Biography

Danielle Spencer

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Born
June 24, 1965 · Bronx, New York City, New York, USA
Died
August 11, 2025 · Richmond, Virginia, USA (gastric cancer and cardiac arrest)
Nickname
- Dee
Height
5′ 3″ (1.60 m)

Danielle Spencer was originally from the Bronx, New York City. After 'What's Happening' got canceled in 1979, Danielle went to the University of California in 1983 to pursue a degree in medicine. She was inspired to by her stepfather, Tim Pelt who died in an automobile accident in 1977. Spencer only attended the university for two years and went back to participate in the sequel to What's Happening, What's Happening Now, in 1985. Danielle also became a member of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority. After her work on the hit sequel, Spencer attended Tuskegee University Veterinary School in Alabama and became a veterinarian in 1996. Spencer also returned to acting in 1997 in the film As Good As It Gets, and played a veterinarian in Peter Rabbit and the Crucifix in 2001. She married Garry Fields in 1999. Spencer tied with Alison Arngrim as the recipient for the "Character Most In Need Of A Time-Out" award on the 2006 TV Land Awards. Danielle Spencer will forever be known as a actress who helped addressed issues such as education, abortion, and poverty, and was a part of a sitcom which taught people about moral values. She passed away on August 11, 2025 in Richmond, Virginia, USA.
- IMDb mini biography by: Peter Sean

She became a veterinarian.
On Tuesday, September 6, 1977 at 8:20 AM, on the way to a script reading at KTLA Studios (where What's Happening!! (1976) was filmed, the script reading was for the episode Trial and Error (1977)), Spencer and her stepfather Tim Pelt were rear-ended on Pacific Coast Highway at Temescal Canyon road in Malibu, California. The impact pushed their AMC Hornet station wagon into the oncoming lanes of traffic, where they were hit head-on by another vehicle. The accident proved fatal to Pelt, while Spencer sustained numerous body and spinal injuries. She was in a coma for three weeks, and currently has no recollection of the accident itself.
Sister of Jeremy Pelt.
Daughter of Cheryl Pelt.
Daughter of James Spencer.

[In 2011, reflecting on her 1970's child actress role] I definitely loved my character Dee on "What's Happening." I must have channeled something in me though that was a tattletale. Okay, I'll admit it. When I saw "Oooo, I'm going to tell Mama," in the script, the way I said it, I don't think they intended it to be read like that. Initially, I think it was going to be [simply] "Oooo, I'm going to tell Mama," but no, I had to take it to a whole other level.
[In 2011, when Mo'Nique asked about her "What's Happening" co-star Mabel King] My mother! That really hurt when she passed away. I learned a lot from her as well. She took me under her wing, and she called me her baby. Everyone was her baby. She was a phenomenal woman too.

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