Danielle Spencer, best known for her portrayal of Dee Thomas in What's Happening!! died at 60.
Her sitcom costar Haywood Nelson turned to his Instagram account to announce that Spencer passed away on Monday.
"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)," shared Nelson, who played Dwayne Nelson on the ABC sitcom.
The Evilspeak actor noted, "Dr. Dee, our brilliant, loving, positive, pragmatic warrior, without fail, has finally found her release from the clutches of this world and a body."
Remembering Spencer's remarkable life, Nelson added, "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."
Spencer starred as Dee Thomas on What's Happening!!, which was loosely based on the 1975 film Cooley High, for three seasons from 1976 to 1979.
During the sitcom’s second season, she and her stepfather, Tim Pelt, got involved in a severe car accident on the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, which resulted in Pelt's death and left her in a three-week coma.
Spencer was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2014 and underwent emergency surgery for a brain bleed in 2018.
A GoFundMe page shared that almost 42 years after the accident, Spencer started experiencing sudden headaches.
"These headaches left her unresponsive and caused her to almost succumb to her illness. With quick action from expert doctors, they did emergency brain surgery removing a bleeding hematoma that formed due to the car accident 42 years ago," the website explained.
She was also diagnosed with spinal stenosis in 2004, which caused her to become briefly paralysed.
The conclusive cause of death has not been revealed by the authorities so far.
