Danielle Spencer, a former child actor best known for her role as Dee in the 1970s sitcom “What’s Happening!!”, has died, a publicist for her family confirmed to ABC News.
Spencer died Aug. 11, due to gastric cancer and cardiac arrest. She was 60, according to Sandra Jones, a family friend who is serving as the family’s spokesperson.
“This untimely death is really hard to process right now,” Jones told ABC News Tuesday. “She is a sweet and gentle soul and she is going to be missed very, very much.”
Spencer starred in 65 episodes of “What’s Happening!!”, an ABC sitcom about three teenage boys growing up in the South Los Angeles neighborhood of Watts, according to IMDb.
Spencer played Dee Thomas, the boys’ younger sister. She also appeared in 16 episodes of the show’s sequel, “What’s Happening Now!”
In 1977, Spencer survived a fatal car crash that killed her stepfather and manager, Tim Pelt, according to her biography on her website.
After recovering from her injuries, Spencer went onto earn a doctorate degree in veterinary medicine in 1993.
She moved from California to the Richmond, Virginia, area in 2014.
At the time of her death, Spencer, who previously battled breast cancer, lived with her mom in an area outside of Richmond, according to Jones.
In addition to her mom, Cheryl Pelt, Spencer is also survived by her younger brother, jazz musician Jeremy Pelt.
In an email Tuesday, Jeremy Pelt told ABC News that Spencer was, “a very loving spirit who fought courageously until the very end.”
Jeremy Pelt also shared a tribute to his sister on Instagram Tuesday, writing, “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, she was a veterinarian, she was someone who always remained positive even during her darkest days fighting this disease,” he continued. “And she was MY sister and protector.”
He added that he was “thankful” to be with his sister when she took her last breath and was “gutted” by her death, writing, “I love you, forever.”
In a 2016 interview with a local Richmond TV station, Spencer reflected on her acting career being featured at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C.
“I seriously can’t even digest it,” Spencer said. “I mean, first of all, that the show is remembered from 40 years [ago], but then also to be featured in this museum along with other shows that have been trailblazers.”
Spencer said that her late stepfather brought her into the world of acting. At age 9, she said she got the call that she had won the role of Dee in “What’s Happening!!”
“A month later I got a phone call, and they said, ‘Fly out to California. You have the role.’ And it was just like my life changed,” she said.
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