Danielle Spencer, the previous youngster star who performed sassy tattletale Dee Thomas on the Seventies sitcom “What’s Taking place!!,” has died. She was 60.
Spencer died Monday after she “misplaced her battle with most cancers,” her brother, jazz trumpeter Jeremy Pelt, introduced on Instagram. Spencer had suffered different well being points — together with a bleeding hematoma and a spinal twine harm — all through her life.
“Lots of you knew her as ‘Dee,’ however she was greater than a baby actress,” Pelt captioned the carousel of images of his sister. “She was a buddy, an auntie to my three youngsters who adored her, she was a daughter — and in some ways, my mom’s finest buddy, she was a veterinarian, she was somebody who all the time remained constructive even throughout her darkest days combating this illness.”
Pelt added: “She was MY sister and protector.”
In a Fb assertion shared Tuesday afternoon, Spencer’s household remembered the actor-turned-veterinarian for her “compassion and dedication” and “stage of braveness and beauty that impressed all who knew her.” The household thanked followers for his or her help and requested privateness.
“Danielle’s spark will proceed to gentle our hearts and hers will shine by the legacy she leaves behind,” the assertion added.
Haywood Nelson, one among Spencer’s “What’s Taking place!!” co-stars, instructed the Hollywood Reporter that “she suffered for a really very long time however did it with an excessive amount of braveness.”
Spencer was finest recognized for her work on “What’s Taking place!!,” which aired on ABC from 1976 to 1979. The Watts-set sitcom adopted a trio of teenagers and likewise featured Ernest Thomas, Fred Berry, Mabel King and Shirley Hemphill. Spencer portrayed the meddling youthful sister to Thomas’ Roger “Raj” Thomas. As Dee, Spencer garnered laughs for her deadpan supply, dry humor and no-nonsense method to household antics.
A relentless thorn in her brother’s facet, Spencer’s Dee additionally delivered memorable traces together with “Ooh, I’m gonna inform Mama!”
Throughout her time on “What’s Taking place!!” in 1977, Spencer and her stepfather Tim Pelt have been concerned in a extreme automobile accident. The crash killed Pelt and left Spencer with well being problems that will have an effect on her later in life. After the accident, Spencer was in a coma for 3 weeks and suffered damaged bones in her leg, arm and pelvis, in response to her web site. In 2018, she underwent surgical procedure for a bleeding hematoma that resulted from the crash.
Spencer had to make use of a wheelchair and underwent rehab to discover ways to stroll once more within the early aughts. She was identified with breast most cancers in 2014 — she stated her household has a historical past with breast most cancers — and received a double mastectomy shortly after.
After “What’s Taking place!!” resulted in 1979, Spencer reprised her position for the syndicated sequel sequence “What’s Taking place Now!,” which aired from 1985 to 1988. Spencer final appeared in a minor position on the long-running daytime drama “Days of Our Lives” in 2001. Her performing credit additionally embody “The Brady Bunch Selection Hour” and the Jack Nicholson movie “As Good as It Will get.”
After her performing profession waned, Spencer shifted her focus to her research, attending UC Davis and UCLA and ultimately incomes her doctorate in veterinary medication from Tuskegee College in 1993, in response to THR. She practiced within the Los Angeles space earlier than shifting to Richmond, Va., the place she would return to TV in a unique capability.
She typically appeared on CBS affiliate WTVR’s morning information programming, sharing her experience on pet care. In 2014, she grew to become the primary youngster star inducted into Smithsonian’s Nationwide Museum of African American Historical past & Tradition, the place her work as Dee Thomas grew to become a everlasting fixture.
Of the distinction, she instructed BlackAmericaWeb.com in 2014, “I nonetheless can’t consider it.”
“That’s one thing folks can have a look at for years to return, lengthy after I’m gone.”
Spencer was born June 24, 1965, and raised within the Bronx. She additionally wrote a memoir about her childhood stardom and pursued varied enterprise ventures together with a candle line and clothes model. Along with her brother Jeremy, she is survived by her mom, Cheryl.
The Related Press contributed to this report.
