Danielle Spencer has handed away at age 60. The actress was greatest identified for enjoying the wisecracking and tattling little sister Dee Thomas on the Nineteen Seventies sitcom ‘What’s Taking place!!’ Spencer died Monday (August 11) after a yearslong battle with most cancers. Household spokesperson Sandra Jones confirmed the information, per the Related Press.
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Spencer’s Traumatic Well being Historical past
Within the manufacturing of ‘What’s Taking place!!’s first season, Spencer was in a significant automotive accident on the Pacific Coast Freeway in Malibu, California. She was 12, and the accident left her in a coma for 3 weeks and killed her stepfather, Tim Pelt. For years after, she needed to endure a number of surgical procedures as a consequence of spinal and neurological issues.
In 2014, she was recognized with breast most cancers and had a double mastectomy. Moreover, in 2018, she had emergency surgical procedure for a bleeding hematoma, which stemmed from her 1977 automotive crash. Instantly after, a household spokesperson stated Danielle Spencer might solely communicate barely and had to make use of crutches to stroll. She had been struggling signs from a minimum of 2004, when she had to make use of a wheelchair and relearn how one can stroll.
Danielle Spencer Will Perpetually Be Dee To Followers
As Dee, Spencer was the smarter, extra critical youthful sister who provided a gradual stream of deadpan roasts. Her victims of alternative? Huge brother Roger ‘Raj’ Thomas and his associates Dwayne Nelson and Freddie ‘Rerun’ Stubbs. “Ooh, I’m gonna inform mama,” would grow to be Dee’s catchphrase.
The present was set in Watts, a neighborhood in Los Angeles. It was among the many first on tv to give attention to the lives of Black youngsters. ‘What’s Taking place!!’ was based mostly on the film ‘Cooley Excessive’ and ran on ABC from 1976 to 1979. It had a protracted legacy because of its memorable characters. The geeky Raj, the catchphrase-spouting Dwayne, the red-bereted dancing phenom Rerun, and Dee together with her eyerolls and icy stare have been on that record. Danielle Spencer additionally appeared as Dee on a mid-Eighties reboot of the present, ‘What’s Taking place Now!!,’ which ran for 3 seasons.
Haywood Nelson, who performed Dwayne, additionally confirmed Danielle’s loss of life in an Instagram put up on August 12. He began his caption by acknowledging her “brilliance.”
“Dr. Dee, our sensible, loving, constructive, pragmatic warrior, with out fail, has lastly discovered her launch from the clutches of this world and a physique. We have a good time Danielle Spencer and her contributions as we remorse to tell her departure and transition from a protracted battle with most cancers. We have now misplaced a daughter, sister, member of the family, ‘What’s Taking place’ solid member, veterinarian animal rights proponent and healer, and most cancers heroine. Our Shero. Danielle is beloved. She shall be missed on this kind and eternally embraced,” Nelson wrote.
What Occurred After Her Time On The TV Collection
In her younger maturity, Spencer attended the College of California, Davis, and UCLA. She earned a doctorate in veterinary drugs from Tuskegee College in 1993 and have become a veterinarian and animal advocate. Danielle continued to dabble in performing, together with an look as a veterinarian within the 1997 Jack Nicholson movie ‘As Good because it Will get.’
R.I.P. Danielle Spencer!
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Related Press Leisure Author Andrew Dalton contributed to this report.
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