Danielle Spencer, Wise-Cracking Dee on 'What's Happening!!,' Dies at 60

Danielle Spencer, who memorably played a little girl with savage sass on "What's Happening!!," has died. She was 60.

According to THR, Spencer had suffered a long series of health setbacks, including breast cancer and emergency surgery in 2018 to relieve a brain bleed.

She had survived a horrific car crash at the height of her "What's Happening!!" fame in 1977 that killed her stepfather, and the crash contributed to a bout of paralysis later in life.

Spencer was born June 24, 1965, in Trenton, New Jersey, but grew up in the Bronx.

An actor first on the stage, she won the role of Dee Thomas on "What's Happening!!," a groundbreaking sitcom whose entire main cast was Black.

Inspired by the 1975 film "Cooley High," the series allowed Thomas to break ground of her own — not only was she the anti-Beaver Cleaver, an earthy and hilariously self-possessed pre-teen with a sharp wit and sharper tongue — she was perhaps the first young Black actor so heavily featured on a major series.

There was a reason Dee seemed so refreshingly real.

She told Jet magazine 11 years ago, “I had never seen any young Black girl in that type of spotlight, so I didn’t have a reference point in the media as to how to deal with this opportunity... What I did was use my own family as the reference on how to portray my character.”

Spencer appeared on 65 episodes of the beloved series (1976-1979), and reprised her role on "What's Happening Now!!" (1985-1988), a sequel show that was syndicated.

Aside from those shows, she acted very little, including appearing on "The Brady Bunch Variety Hour" (1977).

After her brush with fame, Spencer's family moved to the Ivory Coast. She later became a veterinarian, playing one in the 1997 Oscar winner "As Good as It Gets" with Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt.

Her last performance came on an episode of "Days of Our Lives" in 2001.

She is survived by her mom, her brother Jeremy, and her adoring "What's Happening!!" castmates Ernest Thomas and Haywood Nelson.

Co-star Haywood Nelson remembered her on Instagram, writing, "Brilliance! It comes in a great many forms. We all have them and we all have this family’s - Dr. Danielle Spencer (June 24, 1965 - August 11, 2025). Dr. Dee, our brilliant, loving, positive, pragmatic warrior, without fail, has finally found her release from the clutches of this world and a body. We celebrate Danielle Spencer and her contributions as we regret to inform her departure and transition from a long battle with cancer."

He went on, "We have lost a daughter, sister, family member, “What’s Happening” cast member, veterinarian animal rights proponent and healer, and cancer heroine. Our Shero. Danielle is loved. She will be missed in this form and forever embraced."