‘What’s Happening!!’ star and veterinarian Dr. Danielle Spencer dies at 60
According to a family spokesman who talked to the Scripps News Group, Dr. Danielle Louise Spencer, better known globally as “Dee” from the hit sitcom “What’s Happening!!” from the 1970s, died Monday night in Richmond, Virginia, following a protracted fight with cancer.
The 60-year-old former child star was now a veterinarian in the Richmond region.
Dr. Spencer had previously told the Richmond-based Scripps News Group about her experience with cancer.
View this 2016 report about Dr. Danielle Spencer.
According to Spencer, she received her initial diagnosis in 2014.
“I came into the room, there were about five doctors in there,” she stated. Thus, I was quite frightened by that. They also informed me that I had breast cancer.
She claimed to have seen lumps in her right breast after performing her own breast self-examination. She chose to get a prophylactic double mastectomy when a biopsy revealed she had cancer.
As the youngest female child in a sitcom, Spencer was inducted into the National Museum of African American History and Culture and frequently appeared on Richmond’s “Virginia This Morning” on the Scripps News Group.
Haywood Nelson, Spencer’s “What’s Happening!!” co-star, paid tribute to his longtime friend.
“Our clever, kind, upbeat, and practical warrior, Dr. Dee, has at last been freed from the grip of this world and a body. As we grieve to announce Danielle Spencer’s resignation and transition following a protracted fight with cancer, we honor her and her efforts,” he added. “We lost a sister, daughter, family member, cast member of What’s Happening, veterinarian, healer, animal rights advocate, and cancer heroine. Our Shero. Danielle is adored. She will always be accepted and missed in her manner.
ABC’s “What’s Happening!!” ran from 1976 to 1979. Spencer made an appearance on the sitcom’s spin-off program “What’s Happening Now!!” in the 1980s.
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The Richmond-based Scripps News Group first published this story.
