Remembering Danielle Spencer: Top 3 TV shows of Dee from What's Happening!!

Danielle Spencer, who played the meddling youngster Dee in What's Happening!!, has died at the age of 60.

As shared by her publicist, Spencer died from gastric cancer and cardiac arrest on August 11, 2025, at Chippenham Hospital in Richmond, Virginia.

Danielle Spencer, the witty younger sister of Roger Thomas in the hit sitcom, was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a double mastectomy in 2014. In 1993, Spencer went on to become a veterinarian and was also offered to play one in James L. Brooks's 1997 film As Good As It Gets.

Her What's Happening!! co-star Haywood Nelson honoured Spencer in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter:

“She suffered for a very long time but did it with a great deal of courage...She had a great love of animals, she was like Betty White in that way.''

She is survived by her mother and her brother Jeremy, a jazz musician.

Here are 3 Danielle Spencer TV shows to remember her by.

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Top 3 Danielle Spencer TV shows to remember her by

1) What's Happening!!

Eric Monte's 1976 sitcom was Danielle Spencer's first TV role, which skyrocketed her career to new heights. What's Happening!!, loosely based on Monte's film Cooley High, follows working-class African American teens living in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Watts.

What's Happening!! was the television's first African-American show (with teenagers) and dealt with themes like racism, teen pregnancy, poverty, unemployment among youth, and friendship. It eventually became a groundbreaking sitcom and ran for three seasons, till 1979.

The sitcom follows three teenagers living in Watts, namely Ernest Thomas as Roger "Raj" Thomas, Haywood Nelson as Dwayne Nelson, and Fred Berry as Freddy "Rerun" Stubbs. Danielle Spencer played the character of Dee, the sarcastic and meddling younger sister of Roger and daughter of Mabel King's Mabel Thomas. Since their mother was overbearing and doting, this became Dee's popular catchphrase:

“Ooooh, I’m gonna tell Mama!”

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2) Days of Our Lives

In 2001, Danielle Spencer also appeared in an episode of NBC's longest-running scripted television programme, Days of Our Lives. Debuting in 1965, the soap opera has continued to charm its audience for almost seven decades. In 2022, NBCUniversal announced that the series would now be relocated to its Peacock streaming service. After 57 years on NBC, Days of Our Lives is now available to stream on Peacock.

The soap opera is set in the fictional city of Salem, Illinois, and follows the daily lives of two families- the Brady and the Horton families. The soap celebrated its 15,000th episode in December 2024 and continues to remain the most 'daring drama' of the seventies.

Danielle Spencer appeared in an episode in 2001, where she played the role of a Salem Place vendor.

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3) What's Happening Now!!

The popularity of Eric Monte's sitcom paved the way for a sequel, and What's Happening Now!! was released in 1985, where many of the original cast members reprised their respective characters.

Set some years after the events of the flagship series, the sequel series followed Roger and his wife as they moved back into their old Watts home after Mabel's remarriage. Thomas reprised his character for the sitcom, with Danielle Spencer, who now appeared in a recurring role. While Spencer was still a major character in the sequel, she made appearances only in some episodes as Dee was away in college. A nostalgic ode to the 70s sitcom, What's Happening Now!! also ran for three seasons and went off-air in 1988.

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