Latest news with #What's Happening
CNN
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- CNN
Danielle Spencer, who played little sister Dee on ‘What's Happening!!,' dies at 60
ObituariesFacebookTweetLink Follow Danielle Spencer, who played the wisecracking and tattling little sister Dee Thomas on the 1970s sitcom 'What's Happening!!' has died. Spencer died Monday at age 60 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. '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. 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. Spencer also appeared on a mid-1980s reboot of the show, 'What's Happening Now!!,' which ran for three seasons. 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. Spencer continued to dabble in acting, including an appearance as a veterinarian in the 1997 Jack Nicholson film 'As Good as it Gets.'
Associated Press
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Associated Press
Danielle Spencer, who played little sister Dee on 'What's Happening!!,' dies at 60
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Danielle Spencer, who played the wisecracking and tattling little sister Dee Thomas on the 1970s sitcom 'What's Happening!!' has died. Spencer died Monday at age 60 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. '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. 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. Thomas also appeared on a mid-1980s reboot of the show, 'What's Happening Now!!,' which ran for three seasons. 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. Spencer continued to dabble in acting, including an appearance as a veterinarian in the 1997 Jack Nicholson film 'As Good as it Gets.'
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Danielle Spencer, Dee From What's Happening!!, Dead at 60
Danielle Spencer, the actress who played Raj's sarcastic little sister Deadra 'Dee' Thomas on What's Happening!!, died Monday. She was 60 years old. The news was posted by her former What's Happening!! co-star Haywood Nelson on Instagram Tuesday. More from TVLine Ray Brooks, Mr Benn Narrator and EastEnders Vet, Dead at 86 Jon Miyahara, Superstore's Silent Scene Stealer, Dead at 83 The Walking Dead's Kelley Mack Dead at 33 'Dr. Dee, our brilliant, loving, positive, pragmatic warrior, without fail, has finally found her release from the clutches of this world and a body,' he wrote. '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.' Spencer played Dee, the precocious and meddling younger sister on What's Happening!!, for three seasons beginning in 1976. Loosely based on the 1975 film Cooley High, the series started out as a summer replacement on ABC. After it ended, a spinoff of the show titled What's Happening Now!! was ordered, running from 1985 to 1988. Spencer reprised her role, recurring as a college-aged Dee for 16 episodes. In 1996, she pivoted from acting and became a veterinarian, and though she considered herself to be semi-retired from the business, she still occasionally acted. Her other TV credits include The Brady Bunch Hour and Days of Our Lives. She also played a vet in the 1997 James L. Brooks movie As Good As It Gets. TV Stars We Lost in 2025 View Gallery57 Images Best of TVLine 'Missing' Shows, Found! Get the Latest on Ahsoka, Monarch, P-Valley, Sugar, Anansi Boys and 25+ Others Yellowjackets Mysteries: An Up-to-Date List of the Series' Biggest Questions (and Answers?) The Emmys' Most Memorable Moments: Laughter, Tears, Historical Wins, 'The Big One' and More Solve the daily Crossword
