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Danielle Spencer was widely recognized for playing the quick-tongued Dee Thomas on the popular 1970s ABC sitcom What's Happening!! has passed away at the age of 60. According to the statement shared by her longtime friend and co-star Haywood Nelson, Spencer died on August 11. She died in a hospital in Richmond, Virginia. Her mother Cheryl and brother Jeremy Pelt were by her side.
 
Nelson, who played Dwayne Clemens on the show paid his tribute to his friend, calling her "our brilliant, loving, positive, pragmatic warrior" and said she had "finally found her release from the clutches of this world and a body." He went on, "We celebrate Danielle Spencer and her contributions as we regret to inform her departure and transition from a long battle with cancer." Nelson described her as "a daughter, sister, family member, What's Happening cast member, veterinarian, animal rights proponent and healer, and cancer heroine. Our Shero."
 
Spencer was born in June 24, 1965, in the Bronx, New York. She began acting at the young age of 11 where she landed the role of Dee Thomas. The sitcom was loosely based on the 1975 film Cooley High, which originally aired in 1976 t0 1979. It was revived in syndication as What's Happening Now!! from 1985 to 1988, where Spencer reprised her role as a grown-up Dee.
 
During the second season of the show in September 1977, Spencer and her stepdad Tim Pelt got into a severe car accident on the Pacific Coast Highway. Pelt who was driving died from the crash and Spencer was in a coma for three weeks. She later recalled, "I don't remember the hospital stay. I don't remember almost that entire period... However, of course it changed my life." She spent six months recovering from a broken right leg, right arm and pelvis. She was able to return to the final season of the show.
 
Years after the accident, Spencer developed spinal stenosis, which caused paralysis from the waist down for several months. She underwent surgery and physical therapy and later on regained mobility. She underwent a double mastectomy in 2014 after being diagnosed with breast cancer. Later, in 2018, she had emergency brain surgery to relieve bleeding linked to injuries sustained in the accident. A GoFundMe campaign had been created to support her medical expenses.
 
Following her acting career, Spencer pursued veterinary medicine, earning her doctorate in 1993 from Tuskegee University after studies at UC Davis and UCLA. She worked as a veterinarian for about 20 years in Los Angeles before moving to Richmond, where she appeared regularly on CBS affiliate WTVR-TV with pet care segments.
 
Danielle Spencer is survived by her mother and brother, jazz musician Jeremy Pelt.