Iconic child star Danielle Spencer has died aged 60.

Spencer, widely recognized for her portrayal of the lively Dee Thomas on the television show What’s Happening!! which aired from 1976 to 1979, died on Monday, August 11, at a hospital in Richmond, Virginia, after battling breast cancer.

Her former co-star Haywood Nelson, who played Dwayne Clemens Nelson on the ABC show, confirmed her death in an emotional tribute.

He expressed: ‘Brilliance manifests in many forms, and we all possess it. Our family’s star was Dr. Danielle Spencer (June 24, 1965 – August 11, 2025).

‘Dr. Dee, always brilliant, loving, positive, and pragmatic, has now found liberation from the grips of this world and her physical form.

‘We celebrate Danielle Spencer and her contributions as we regret to inform her departure and transition from a long battle with cancer.

We mourn the loss of a daughter, sister, family member, part of the “What’s Happening” cast, a dedicated veterinarian, passionate animal rights advocate, and courageous cancer fighter. Our heroine, Danielle, is deeply loved and will be missed, yet always remembered.’

Iconic What’s Happening!! child star Danielle Spencer has died aged 60 – pictured 1976

Spencer, known for her iconic role as Dee Thomas in What’s Happening!! from 1976 to 1979, succumbed to cancer on Monday, August 11. She was last seen publicly in February 2025.

As Dee, Raj Thomas’s (played by Ernest Thomas) sister and Mabel’s (played by Mabel King) daughter, she was famous for her catchphrase, ‘Oooh I’m gonna tell mama!’

She later reprised her role for the show’s sequel What’s Happening Now! which aired for three seasons between 1985-1988. 

In 1977 aged just 12 Spencer was involved in a five car crash in Malibu that killed her stepfather Tim Pelt and left her in intensive care for three weeks with a a broken leg, arm and pelvis.

She wrote in her 2010 memoir, Through the Fire … Journal of a Child Star: ‘I didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye to my stepfather, Daddy Tim, whom I loved and who taught me show business as a young child in New York.’

In 2004, she was diagnosed with spinal stenosis – a condition where the spinal canal narrows, putting pressure on the spinal cord and nerves – as a result of her injuries from the 1977 car accident.

A surgery left her partially paralyzed for eight months.

Spencer became a veterinarian in 1996 and the following year art imitated life when she played one in As Good As It Gets.

Her final screen role was as a street vendor in a 2001 episode of Days of Our Lives. 

In 2014 she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

As Dee, the sister of Raj Thomas (Ernest Thomas) and daughter of Mabel (Mabel King), she was known for her signature phrase, ‘Oooh I’m gonna tell mama!’ – pictured with Fred ‘Rerun’ Berry, Haywood Nelson and Ernest Thomas in 1979

Her former co-star Haywood Nelson, who played Dwayne Clemens Nelson on the ABC show, confirmed her death in an emotional tribute

Spencer is pictured with What’s Happening!! co-star Thomas in 2011

In 1977 aged just 12 Spencer was involved in a five car crash in Malibu that killed her stepfather Tim Pelt and left her in intensive care for three weeks with a a broken leg, arm and pelvis

‘With everything that I’ve been through with the spinal cord injury, I know God is not going to give me another affliction.

 ‘So I was completely shocked when the doctors told me.’ 

In 2015 she became the only child star to be inducted into the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.

In 2018, she had emergency brain surgery for a bleeding hematoma caused by the accident. 

Spencer is survived by her mother and brother Jeremy.