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.
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“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.
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