Dr. Danielle Spencer, Child Star From ‘What’s Happening!!,’ Dead At 60
Danielle Spencer, the child star best known for her starring role in the hit sitcom What’s Happening!!, has died at the age of 60. The actress/veterinarian passed away on Monday (Aug. 11) in a Richmond, Virginia, hospital.
The tragic news was confirmed by her former co-star, Haywood Nelson, the following day on Instagram. “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),” the 65-year-old wrote.
He continued, “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.”
The tribute concluded by noting, “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.”
(L-R): Haywood Nelson, Shirley Hemphill, Ernest Thomas, Fred Berry, Mabel King, Danielle Spencer
ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images
Born on June 24, 1965, and raised in The Bronx by her mother, Cheryl and stepfather, actor Tim Pelt, Spencer started acting at age 7.
At age 11, she landed her breakout role as Dee Thomas, the witty, younger sister of Roger “Raj” Thomas (Ernest Thomas) and daughter of Mabel (Mabel King). She became a household name for her catch phrase, “Ooooh, I’m gonna tell Mama!”
Of the feat, she told Jet in 2014, “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. I was from the Bronx. What I did was use my own family as the reference on how to portray my character.”
What’s Happening!!, which was loosely based on the 1975 film Cooley High, ran for three seasons from 1976 to 1979. The spinoff, What’s Happening Now!!, premiered in 1985 and also aired for three seasons.
WHAT’S HAPPENING NOW!!, (l-r): Haywood Nelson, Anne-Marie Johnson, Ernest Thomas, Tempest Bledsoe, Shirley Hemphill, Danielle Spencer on set, 1985-88, (c)Columbia Pictures Television/courtesy Everett Collection
The lead cast for the original series included Spencer, Thomas, Nelson as Dwayne Clemens Nelson, Fred Berry as Freddie “Rerun” Stubbs, Mabel King as Mabel “Mama” Thomas, and Shirley Hemphill as Shirley Wilson.
In 1977, during production of What’s Happening!! season two, Spencer and her stepfather got into a severe car accident. The incident left Spencer in a three-week coma while Pelt died protecting her.
During the 2016 episode of Oprah: Where Are They Now?, Spencer confessed, “I don’t remember the hospital stay. I don’t remember almost that entire period. However, of course it changed my life.”
She shared, “I broke my right leg and my right arm. I was in a coma for three weeks. I also broke my pelvis. Fortunately for me, I had the whole summer to heal, and I was right back on the show for the final season.”
WHAT’S HAPPENING NOW!, Danielle Spencer, 1985-1988
Columbia/courtesy Everett Collection
When the series was cancelled, Spencer enrolled in the UC Davis, UCLA, and later Tuskegee University Veterinary School and became a veterinarian in 1993. Her career pivot and love for animals even landed her a role in 1997’s As Good As It Gets.
Years later, she developed a spinal condition that paralyzed her from the waist down for months. She underwent surgery and physical therapy to learn how to walk again. Per The Hollywood Reporter, Spencer worked as a veterinarian for two decades in the Los Angeles area before relocating to Richmond in 2014, where she maintained a regular morning segment about pet care for CBS affiliate, WTVR-TV.
She released a memoir, Through The Fire… Journal of a child star, in 2011 and detailed her career change as well as the accident.
She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2014 and underwent a double mastectomy. That year, she told Black America Web, “With everything that I’ve been through with the spinal cord injury, I know God is not going to give me another affliction. So I was completely shocked when the doctors told me.”
Spencer had emergency surgery in 2018 to alleviate a brain bleed and a GoFundMe, which raised over $10,000, was set up to help pay for her medical expenses.
She’s survived by her mother, and brother Jeremy, a jazz musician.
