A child acting star from the 1970s is gone: Danielle Spencer, who played Dee on ABC's What's Happening!! has died at age 60, reports People. No cause of death has been announced. One of her co-stars from the show, Haywood Nelson, announced the news on Instagram.
- "Brilliance! It comes in a great many forms. We all have them, and we all have this family's—Dr. Danielle Spencer (June 24, 1965 – August 11, 2025)," he wrote.
The "Dr." in that post is a reference to Spencer's post-acting career as a veterinarian. Spencer played the feisty little sister of main character Raj for all three seasons of the show's run from 1976-79, notes Deadline. In the show's second season, she was in a serious car crash with her stepfather in Malibu—it took his life and left her in a coma for three weeks. When the ABC sitcom wrapped, Spencer took a few more acting roles, the last in 2001 on an episode of Days of Our Lives.