Danielle Spencer died at the age of 60 in August 2025 following a battle with cancer. The late child star-turned-veterinarian — best known for her role in the 1970s sitcom What’s Happening!! — built more than a life in showbusiness, which likely contributed to her net worth and overall success. As fans mourn her death, others are learning about Spencer’s career.
“We have lost a daughter, sister, family member, What’s Happening cast member, veterinarian animal rights proponent and healer, and cancer heroine,” Spencer’s former What’s Happening!! co-star Haywood Nelson wrote in an Instagram post after she died. “Our Shero. Danielle is loved. She will be missed in this form and forever embraced. … Dr. Dee, our brilliant, loving, positive, pragmatic warrior, without fail, has finally found her release from the clutches of this world and a body. We celebrate Danielle Spencer and her contributions as we regret to inform her departure and transition from a long battle with cancer.”
Learn about Spencer’s film and veterinarian career below.
Spencer was an actress recognized for playing the character Dee in What’s Happening!! and its sequel sitcom, What’s Happening Now!! After establishing herself in Hollywood, the late New Jersey native appeared in other on-screen projects, including The Brady Bunch Hour, Special Treat, Days of Our Lives and As Good as It Gets.
Outside of the film business, Spencer sought out for a career in the medical field. She attended Tuskegee University Veterinary School in Alabama and became a veterinarian in 1996.
Moreover, Spencer opened up about her life as a child actor in her memoir, Through the Fire: Journal of a Child Star.
