# Danielle Spencer (American actress)
**Danielle Spencer** (June 24, 1965 – August 11, 2025) was an American actress and veterinarian, best known as a child star for playing the wisecracking little sister Dee Thomas on the 1970s ABC sitcom *What's Happening!!* and its 1980s sequel *What's Happening Now!!*.[1](https://apnews.com/article/ee4f1d11c5e6d0e32993985530db61b7) After leaving acting she earned a doctorate of veterinary medicine from [Tuskegee University](https://www.edgepedia.org/tuskegee-university) and practiced in California and Virginia.[1](https://apnews.com/article/ee4f1d11c5e6d0e32993985530db61b7)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born / died | 1965, Trenton, New Jersey; August 11, 2025, Richmond, Virginia, age 60[1](https://apnews.com/article/ee4f1d11c5e6d0e32993985530db61b7) |
| Signature role | Dee Thomas on *What's Happening!!* (ABC, 1976–1979), her first credited role[1](https://apnews.com/article/ee4f1d11c5e6d0e32993985530db61b7) |
| Catchphrase | "Ooh, I'm gonna tell mama," delivered with eyerolls and an icy stare[1](https://apnews.com/article/ee4f1d11c5e6d0e32993985530db61b7) |
| Second career | Doctor of veterinary medicine, Tuskegee University, 1993; some sources give 1996[1](https://apnews.com/article/ee4f1d11c5e6d0e32993985530db61b7) • [2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0817909/bio/) |
| Later screen work | Appeared as a veterinarian in the 1997 Jack Nicholson film *As Good as It Gets*[1](https://apnews.com/article/ee4f1d11c5e6d0e32993985530db61b7) |
| Smithsonian honor | In 2014 became the first child star inducted into the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History & Culture[3](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2025-08-12/daneille-spencer-dead-whats-happening-actor-dee) |
| Memoir | *Through the Fire: Journal of a Child Star* (2011)[4](https://www.thewrap.com/danielle-spencer-child-star-on-groundbreaking-70s-sitcom-whats-happening-dies-at-60) |
## What's Happening!!
Spencer began acting at about age 9, taking lessons from age 8, and *What's Happening!!* became her first credited role when she was 11.[1](https://apnews.com/article/ee4f1d11c5e6d0e32993985530db61b7) • [4](https://www.thewrap.com/danielle-spencer-child-star-on-groundbreaking-70s-sitcom-whats-happening-dies-at-60) The show, loosely based on the movie *Cooley High*, was set in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Watts and was among the first television programs to focus on the lives of Black teenagers.[1](https://apnews.com/article/ee4f1d11c5e6d0e32993985530db61b7) It ran on ABC from 1976 to 1979 and followed a trio of teens, with Spencer as the meddling younger sister of Roger "Raj" Thomas (Ernest Thomas), alongside Dwayne Nelson ([Haywood Nelson](https://www.edgepedia.org/haywood-nelson)) and Freddie "Rerun" Stubbs ([Fred Berry](https://www.edgepedia.org/fred-berry)).[1](https://apnews.com/article/ee4f1d11c5e6d0e32993985530db61b7) • [3](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2025-08-12/daneille-spencer-dead-whats-happening-actor-dee)
As Dee, Spencer played the smarter, more serious younger sister who delivered deadpan roasts of her big brother and his friends; the character's catchphrase, "Ooh, I'm gonna tell mama," became widely known.[1](https://apnews.com/article/ee4f1d11c5e6d0e32993985530db61b7) In a 2014 interview with *Jet* magazine she recalled the experience of sudden fame: "Imagine being plucked from obscurity to star in a TV show. Having never before seen a young Black girl in that kind of spotlight, she said she lacked any media example to guide her in handling the opportunity. I was from the Bronx."[1](https://apnews.com/article/ee4f1d11c5e6d0e32993985530db61b7)
The producers canceled the show after its third season in 1979, following a compensation dispute with two of the lead actors.[4](https://www.thewrap.com/danielle-spencer-child-star-on-groundbreaking-70s-sitcom-whats-happening-dies-at-60) The series performed well in syndication, and in 1985 it was revived as *What's Happening Now!!*, on which Spencer returned as Dee on a recurring basis while continuing college; that sequel ran for three seasons.[1](https://apnews.com/article/ee4f1d11c5e6d0e32993985530db61b7) • [4](https://www.thewrap.com/danielle-spencer-child-star-on-groundbreaking-70s-sitcom-whats-happening-dies-at-60)
## The 1977 car crash
Early in the production of the show's first season, on September 6, 1977, Spencer, then 12, and her stepfather and manager Tim Pelt were rear-ended on the [Pacific Coast Highway](https://www.edgepedia.org/pacific-coast-highway) at Temescal Canyon Road in [Malibu, California](https://www.edgepedia.org/malibu-california), while driving to a script reading.[1](https://apnews.com/article/ee4f1d11c5e6d0e32993985530db61b7) • [2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0817909/bio/) The crash killed Pelt and left Spencer in a coma for three weeks with broken bones in her leg, arm, and pelvis.[1](https://apnews.com/article/ee4f1d11c5e6d0e32993985530db61b7) • [3](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2025-08-12/daneille-spencer-dead-whats-happening-actor-dee) She suffered spinal and neurological problems that required multiple surgeries in later years.[1](https://apnews.com/article/ee4f1d11c5e6d0e32993985530db61b7)
The injuries shaped the rest of her life. She had symptoms from at least 2004, when she used a wheelchair and relearned how to walk.[1](https://apnews.com/article/ee4f1d11c5e6d0e32993985530db61b7) In 2018 she underwent emergency surgery for a bleeding hematoma stemming from the 1977 crash; afterward she could speak only slightly and walked with crutches.[1](https://apnews.com/article/ee4f1d11c5e6d0e32993985530db61b7)
## Veterinary career and later life
After the sequel ended, Spencer left acting and studied marine biology at the [University of California, Davis](https://www.edgepedia.org/university-of-california-davis), and also attended UCLA, before earning her doctorate of veterinary medicine from Tuskegee University in Alabama in 1993.[1](https://apnews.com/article/ee4f1d11c5e6d0e32993985530db61b7) • [4](https://www.thewrap.com/danielle-spencer-child-star-on-groundbreaking-70s-sitcom-whats-happening-dies-at-60) Some accounts, including IMDb and TheWrap, give 1996 as the year she completed the degree.[2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0817909/bio/) • [4](https://www.thewrap.com/danielle-spencer-child-star-on-groundbreaking-70s-sitcom-whats-happening-dies-at-60) She practiced in the Los Angeles area before moving to [Richmond, Virginia](https://www.edgepedia.org/richmond-virginia), where she appeared on CBS affiliate WTVR's morning news programming sharing pet-care advice.[3](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2025-08-12/daneille-spencer-dead-whats-happening-actor-dee)
She returned to acting occasionally. She appeared as a veterinarian in the 1997 [Jack Nicholson](https://www.edgepedia.org/jack-nicholson) film *As Good as It Gets*, played a veterinarian in *Peter Rabbit and the Crucifix* (2001), and had a minor role on the daytime drama *Days of Our Lives* in 2001.[1](https://apnews.com/article/ee4f1d11c5e6d0e32993985530db61b7) • [2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0817909/bio/) • [3](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2025-08-12/daneille-spencer-dead-whats-happening-actor-dee) In 2006 she tied with [Alison Arngrim](https://www.edgepedia.org/alison-arngrim) for the TV Land Awards' "Character Most In Need Of A Time-Out" award.[2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0817909/bio/) She published a memoir of her child-star years, *Through the Fire: Journal of a Child Star*, in 2011, and pursued business ventures including a candle line and a clothing brand.[4](https://www.thewrap.com/danielle-spencer-child-star-on-groundbreaking-70s-sitcom-whats-happening-dies-at-60) • [3](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2025-08-12/daneille-spencer-dead-whats-happening-actor-dee)
In 2014 she was diagnosed with breast cancer and had a double mastectomy; she said her family had a history of the disease.[1](https://apnews.com/article/ee4f1d11c5e6d0e32993985530db61b7) • [3](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2025-08-12/daneille-spencer-dead-whats-happening-actor-dee) That same year she became the first child star inducted into the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History & Culture, where her work as Dee Thomas became a permanent fixture.[3](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2025-08-12/daneille-spencer-dead-whats-happening-actor-dee) "That's something people can look at for years to come, long after I'm gone," she said of the honor.[3](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2025-08-12/daneille-spencer-dead-whats-happening-actor-dee)
Spencer married Garry Fields in 1999; the marriage ended in divorce in 2013. She married David L. David in 2014.[2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0817909/bio/) • [4](https://www.thewrap.com/danielle-spencer-child-star-on-groundbreaking-70s-sitcom-whats-happening-dies-at-60)
## Death
Spencer died on August 11, 2025, at a hospital in Richmond, Virginia, at age 60, after a yearslong battle with cancer; IMDb records the cause as gastric cancer and cardiac arrest.[1](https://apnews.com/article/ee4f1d11c5e6d0e32993985530db61b7) • [2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0817909/bio/) Her brother, jazz trumpeter Jeremy Pelt, announced her death on Instagram, writing, "Many of you knew her as 'Dee,' but she was more than a child actress."[3](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2025-08-12/daneille-spencer-dead-whats-happening-actor-dee) Her co-star Haywood Nelson paid tribute to "Dr. Dee, our brilliant, loving, positive, pragmatic warrior."[1](https://apnews.com/article/ee4f1d11c5e6d0e32993985530db61b7) She is survived by her brother and her mother, Cheryl Pelt.[1](https://apnews.com/article/ee4f1d11c5e6d0e32993985530db61b7)
## References
1. [Danielle Spencer, who played little sister Dee on 'What's Happening!!,' dies at 60, AP News](https://apnews.com/article/ee4f1d11c5e6d0e32993985530db61b7)
2. [Danielle Spencer – Biography, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0817909/bio/)
3. [Danielle Spencer, former child actor who played Dee on 1970s sitcom 'What's Happening!!,' dies at 60, Los Angeles Times](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2025-08-12/daneille-spencer-dead-whats-happening-actor-dee)
4. [Danielle Spencer, Child Star on Groundbreaking '70s Sitcom 'What's Happening,' Dies at 60, TheWrap](https://www.thewrap.com/danielle-spencer-child-star-on-groundbreaking-70s-sitcom-whats-happening-dies-at-60)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen people and creators › Screen actors of the Anglosphere and Europe › American actors: 1970s to 1990s › Surnames Sm to Su*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 12, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license