Danielle Spencer, the former child actor best known for playing Dee Thomas on the 1970s sitcom What's Happening!! , died on Monday at the age of 60.

The actress' death was due to gastric cancer and cardiac arrest, family friend and spokesperson Sandra Jones confirmed to ABC News.

The Context

Spencer starred in 65 episodes of What's Happening!! (1976–1979) and reprised her role in the sequel What's Happening Now!! (1985–1988). The shows were among the early American television programs to follow the lives of Black teenagers .

She later earned a doctorate in veterinary medicine from Tuskegee University in 1993 and practiced in the Richmond, Virginia, area after relocating there from California in 2014, according to ABC News.

What To Know

Spencer died on August 11 at Chippenh

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