LOS ANGELES (AP) — Danielle Spencer, who played the wisecracking and tattling little sister Dee Thomas on the 1970s sitcom “What’s Happening!!” has died.
Spencer died Monday at age 60 after a yearslong battle with cancer, family spokesperson Sandra Jones said.
As Dee, Spencer was the smarter, more serious younger sister who offered a steady stream of deadpan roasts of big brother Roger “Raj” Thomas and his friends Dwayne Nelson and Freddie “Rerun” Stubbs.
“Ooh, I’m gonna tell mama,” would become Dee’s catchphrase.
The show, set in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Watts and among the first on television to focus on the lives of Black teenagers, was based on the movie “Cooley High” and ran on ABC from 1976 to 1979. It had a long legacy thanks to its memorable characters, including the