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First Post
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- First Post
Danielle Spencer, who played little sister Dee on ‘What's Happening!!,' dies at 60
Spencer, who became a veterinarian later in life, died Monday at a hospital in Richmond, Virginia, after a yearslong battle with cancer, family spokesperson Sandra Jones said. Danielle Spencer, who played the wisecracking and tattling little sister Dee Thomas on the 1970s sitcom 'What's Happening!!' has died at 60. Spencer, who became a veterinarian later in life, died Monday at a hospital in Richmond, Virginia, after a yearslong battle with cancer, family spokesperson Sandra Jones said. As Dee, Spencer was the smarter, more serious younger sister who offered a steady stream of deadpan roasts of big brother Roger 'Raj' Thomas and his friends Dwayne Nelson and Freddie 'Rerun' Stubbs. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 'Ooh, I'm gonna tell mama,' would become Dee's catchphrase. The show, set in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Watts and among the first on television to focus on the lives of Black teenagers, was based on the movie 'Cooley High' and ran on ABC from 1976 to 1979. It had a long legacy thanks to its memorable characters, including the geeky Raj, the catchphrase-spouting Dwayne, the red-bereted dancing phenom Rerun, and Dee with her eyerolls and icy stare. Early in the production of the show's first season, Spencer, then 12, was in a major car accident on the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, California, that left her in a coma for three weeks and killed her stepfather, Tim Pelt. She would have spinal and neurological problems that would require multiple surgeries in the years afterward. Born in Trenton, New Jersey, and raised in New York, Spencer began acting when she was about 9. 'What's Happening!!' would be her first credited role. 'Imagine being plucked from obscurity to star in a TV show,' she told Jet magazine 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.' STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Haywood Nelson, who played Dwayne on the show, paid tribute Tuesday to 'Dr. Dee, our brilliant, loving, positive, pragmatic warrior.' 'We have lost a daughter, sister, family member, 'What's Happening' cast member, veterinarian animal rights proponent and healer, and cancer heroine. Our Shero,' Nelson said on Instagram. 'Danielle is loved.' Spencer also appeared on a mid-1980s reboot of the show, 'What's Happening Now!!,' which ran for three seasons. In 2018, she had emergency surgery for a bleeding hematoma, which stemmed from that 1977 car crash. In the immediate aftermath, a family spokesperson said she could only speak slightly and had to use crutches to walk. She had been suffering symptoms from at least 2004, when she had to use a wheelchair and relearn how to walk. In 2014, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and had a double mastectomy. She went on to become a veterinarian and advocate for animals. She attended the University of California, Davis, and UCLA, and got a doctorate in veterinary medicine from Tuskegee University in 1993. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Spencer continued to dabble in acting in her later years, including an appearance as a veterinarian in the 1997 Jack Nicholson film 'As Good as it Gets.' She is survived by her brother, musician Jeremy Pelt, and her mother, Cheryl Pelt.
Yahoo
15-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Omarosa has been on reality TV for 20 years. The secret to her success? ‘I just happen to be really, really interesting.'
For more than 20 years, people have known who Omarosa is. In 2004, Jet magazine dubbed her the "woman America loved to hate" when she made her mark on pop culture as a ferocious contestant on the first season of The Apprentice, the Donald Trump-hosted reality show. Since then, she's appeared on other unscripted television series like Celebrity Big Brother, Fear Factor and House of Villains, showcasing her signature fearlessness. She even did a brief stint as an aide in the 2016 Trump administration. She's now part of the cast of Got to Get Out, a Hulu reality competition series that pits 20 people against each other in a mansion to compete to earn $1 million. Over the course of 10 days, the grand prize inches higher, and contestants have the chance to try to break out of the house with part of the money or stay and split the grand prize. There are 10 reality stars from shows like The Bachelor and The Hills, and 10 TV newcomers in the cast. Omarosa told Yahoo Entertainment that in honor of her second decade of reality TV stardom, she asked her agent to find her something 'big' and 'unique.' 'He kept pitching me some weird, whack shows. I was like, 'I'm not doing that,'' she said. 'I want to do something people will talk about.' She was looking for something like Fear Factor, on which she appeared on toward the beginning of her career. 'There were like, snakes and bugs and airplanes and race cars,' she said. 'I wanted something like that. This is crazier than that.' It didn't hurt that there was $1 million at stake, along with a massive mansion and an 'incredible cast.' On set, Omarosa found that her reputation put her at a disadvantage. 'You needed people to trust you, and you know — I wouldn't trust me!' she said. 'I had to find creative ways to get into the action — to get clues and build rapport. At the end of the day, I just had to outwork people. I was around corners and closets. I was eavesdropping. I was reading lips. You name it … I had to do it.' She wasn't afraid to take her gameplay to the extreme, either. 'I always want to make sure that my fans get what they tune in for,' Omarosa said. 'I have to tell you — I skirted the lines on this. Some of the rules and some of the things [I did] pushed the limits. I hurt a couple of people's feelings.' 'Please forgive me, but I played a good game. I'm proud of the game I played,' she added. In the first episode, one of the contestants gets caught trying to trick the rest of his housemates. Omarosa responded with an equally vicious and hilarious quip. 'Don't believe anything anybody says in this house, they're all freaking psycho liars,' she said on-screen, referencing the scheming contestant. 'He looks like the biggest weasel.' Omarosa told Yahoo Entertainment that the key to dishing out soundbites like that is that 'you have to be your authentic self.' 'I just happen to be really, really interesting,' she laughed. 'No, seriously! In all seriousness, I love reality TV, and I'm really grateful for all the people who've gone on this journey with me for the last 20 years.' Season 1 of is now streaming on Hulu.
