Dr. Danielle Spencer, 'What's Happening!!" Star, Dies At 60

Dr. Danielle Spencer, an actor who gained fame through the 1970s hit sitcom What’s Happening!!, has passed away, according to a social media post. While we await official word from the family of Dr. Danielle Spencer, we’ll share what we’ve learned so far. Via the Instagram account of What’s Happening!! co-star Haywood Nelson, the news was delivered that Danielle Spencer passed away on Monday (August 11) after battling a health issue. More from Nelson’s page: 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. 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 Dr. Spencer was born on June 24, 1965, according to her Wikipedia page, and played the role of Dee Thomas on What’s Happening!! from 1976 until 1979. She would return to the role of Thomas in the spinoff series, What’s Happening Now!! Spencer attended the University of California-Davis in 1983 to study medicine, according to her IMDB biography. She was inspired to enter that field of study after her stepfather passed away in an automobile accident. She discontinued her studies to appear in What’s Happening Now!! and later entered the Tuskegee University Veterinary School in Alabama. Although Spencer would act sparingly in the 1980s through the early 2000s, she shifted careers and became a veterinarian and granted interviews at certain intervals. Dr. Danielle Spencer was 60.

[h/t New York Amsterdam News]

UPDATE: The family of Dr. Danille Spencer took to her Facebook page to share a statment, which we’ll post below.

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Photo: Getty

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