The girl who always knew how to get her big brother in trouble has said goodbye for the last time.
Danielle Spencer, the actress who captured America’s hearts as the smart-mouthed little sister Dee Thomas on the hit 1970s sitcom “What’s Happening!!”, died Monday at a Richmond, Virginia hospital. She was 60 years old.
Her longtime friend and co-star Haywood Nelson broke the news on Instagram, calling her “our brilliant, loving, positive, pragmatic warrior.” But there’s so much more to Danielle Spencer’s story than most people know.
The Girl Who Made Tattling an Art Form
Remember that kid in your family who always seemed to know exactly what you were up to? That was Dee Thomas and Danielle Spencer played her perfectly.
From 1976 to 1979, millions of Americans tuned in every week to watch Dee catch her brother Raj and his friends in their latest scheme. With her famous line “Ooooh, I’m gonna tell mama!” she became the queen of comebacks and the master of perfect timing.
The show was groundbreaking too. “What’s Happening!!” was one of the first sitcoms on television to focus on the lives of Black teenagers, set in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Watts. At just 11 years old, Danielle Spencer wasn’t just acting – she was making history.
But here’s what’s really incredible: she almost didn’t make it to see the show’s success.
The Accident That Changed Everything
During the second season, something terrible happened that changed Danielle Spencer’s life forever.
In September 1977, while the show was still filming, Spencer and her stepfather Tim Pelt were involved in a horrific car accident on the Pacific Coast Highway. The crash killed Pelt, who had been trying to protect Spencer during impact. Spencer herself was left in a coma for three weeks.
Can you imagine? A 12-year-old girl, at the height of her TV fame, fighting for her life in a hospital bed.
She spent six months recovering with physical therapy, and the injuries affected her for the rest of her life. Danielle Spencer later developed spinal stenosis from the accident, requiring multiple surgeries over the years. In 2004, one surgery left her partially paralyzed for eight months.
But here’s the thing about Danielle Spencer – she never let any of it break her spirit.
From Hollywood to Healing Animals
When “What’s Happening!!” ended in 1979, most people expected Danielle Spencer to continue acting. Instead, she did something that surprised everyone.
She walked away from Hollywood.
Spencer and her mother moved to the Ivory Coast for a while, and when they returned, she had a completely different dream. She wanted to become a veterinarian. Her late stepfather had encouraged this passion, and she was determined to honor his memory.
So off she went to the University of California-Davis, and later to Tuskegee University Veterinary School in Alabama. In 1996, Danielle Spencer officially became Dr. Spencer. She’d traded soundstages for animal hospitals, and she couldn’t have been happier.
“I’ve always had a knack for caring for animals and I’ve always been interested in chemistry, bacteriology and about the body,” she said in a 1985 interview.
For years, she worked as a veterinarian in California before moving to Richmond, Virginia in 2014 to be closer to family. She even appeared on local TV giving pet care advice, just like a real-life Dr. Dolittle.
The Battles She Fought in Private
While Danielle Spencer was busy saving animals and living her new life, she was also fighting battles most people never knew about.
In 2014, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a double mastectomy. Then in 2018, she had emergency surgery to relieve bleeding on her brain. Through it all, she kept that same positive attitude that made Dee Thomas so lovable.
“You really have to live life for you at that minute,” she said in a 2016 interview. “And just try to have fun. Be lighthearted and be happy while you’re here, because you never know when that time is going to end.”
Those words hit differently now, don’t they?
Her co-star Haywood Nelson, who played Dwayne on the show, said they talked just two weeks ago and she sounded upbeat. “She suffered for a very long time but did it with a great deal of courage,” he told reporters.
More Than Just a Child Star
Here’s something that might surprise you: Danielle Spencer wrote a book about her experiences called “Through the Fire: Journal of a Child Star.” She also co-hosted a podcast called “Living with Danielle and David” where she talked about love, marriage, and entertainment.
She was married twice – first to marketing manager Garry Fields from 1999 to 2013, then to entrepreneur David L. David in 2014. She didn’t have children of her own, but she was a beloved aunt to her brother Jeremy’s three kids.
Speaking of Jeremy, he’s a well-known jazz trumpeter who was with Danielle Spencer when she took her last breath. In his Instagram tribute, he wrote: “Many of you knew her as ‘Dee,’ but she was more than a child actress. She was a friend, an auntie to my three children who adored her, she was a daughter- and in many ways, my mother’s best friend.”
A Legacy That Goes Beyond TV
Danielle Spencer even made occasional returns to acting. She appeared as a veterinarian (talk about life imitating art!) in the 1997 Jack Nicholson movie “As Good as It Gets.” She also showed up in the sequel series “What’s Happening Now!!” in the 1980s while she was still in college.
In 2006, she and the rest of the “What’s Happening!!” cast were honored at the TV Land Awards. Spencer won the “Character Most in Need of a Time-Out” award alongside “Little House on the Prairie” actress Alison Arngrim. Even decades later, people still remembered how perfectly she played that mischievous little sister.
The show itself has become a cultural touchstone. It’s featured in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. – proof that Danielle Spencer wasn’t just entertaining people, she was part of something historically important.
Saying Goodbye to Our TV Sister
Danielle Spencer died from gastric cancer and cardiac arrest, surrounded by her mother Cheryl and brother Jeremy. Her friend Sandra Jones, who’s speaking for the family, said “This untimely death is really hard to process right now. She is a sweet and gentle soul and she is going to be missed very, very much.”
The tributes have been pouring in from fans who grew up watching her every week. “I’m gonna tell mama!” became more than just a catchphrase – it became part of American TV history.
But maybe the most beautiful tribute came from her co-star Nelson, who wrote: “We have lost a daughter, sister, family member, ‘What’s Happening’ cast member, veterinarian, animal rights proponent and healer, and cancer heroine. Our Shero.”
A shero. That’s exactly what Danielle Spencer was.
She survived a tragic accident that would have broken most people. She walked away from fame to follow her dreams. She dedicated her life to healing animals. She fought cancer with grace and courage. And through it all, she kept the same spirit that made a little girl from New Jersey into America’s favorite TV sister.
Danielle Spencer proved that there’s life after child stardom, that you can reinvent yourself completely, and that the best way to honor your past is by creating a meaningful future.
She’ll always be Dee Thomas to millions of us. But she was so much more than that. She was a healer, a survivor, and an inspiration.
Rest in peace, Dr. Dee. Thanks for all the laughs, and for showing us what real strength looks like.
