Danielle Spencer, a former little one actor finest recognized for her position as Dee within the Seventies sitcom “What’s Taking place!!”, has died, a publicist for her household confirmed to ABC Information.
Spencer died Aug. 11, after a battle with most cancers. She was 60, in line with Sandra Jones, a household pal who’s serving because the household’s spokesperson.
“This premature dying is admittedly arduous to course of proper now,” Jones advised ABC Information Tuesday. “She is a candy and mild soul and she or he goes to be missed very, very a lot.”
Spencer starred in 65 episodes of “What’s Taking place!!”, an ABC sitcom about three teenage boys rising up within the South Los Angeles neighborhood of Watts, according to IMDb.
Spencer performed Dee Thomas, the boys’ youthful sister. She additionally appeared in 16 episodes of the present’s sequel, “What’s Taking place Now!”
Danielle Spencer from ‘What’s Taking place!!’ poses for a photograph in November 1976, in Los Angeles.
Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Photos
In 1977, Spencer survived a deadly automobile crash that killed her stepfather and supervisor, Tim Pelt, in line with her biography on her web site.
After recovering from her accidents, Spencer went onto earn a doctorate diploma in veterinary drugs in 1993.
She moved from California to the Richmond, Virginia, space in 2014. On the time of her dying, she lived along with her mother in an space outdoors of Richmond, in line with Jones.
Along with her mother, Cheryl Pelt, Spencer can be survived by her youthful brother, jazz musician Jeremy Pelt.
Jeremy Pelt shared a tribute to his sister on Instagram Tuesday, writing, “A lot of you knew her as ‘Dee,’ however she was greater than a toddler actress.”
“She was a pal, an auntie to my three youngsters who adored her, she was a daughter- and in some ways, my mom’s finest pal, she was a veterinarian, she was somebody who at all times remained constructive even throughout her darkest days combating this illness,” he continued. “And she or he was MY sister and protector.”
He added that he was “grateful” to be together with his sister when she took her final breath and was “gutted” by her dying, writing, “I really like you, ceaselessly.”
In a 2016 interview with an area Richmond TV station, Spencer mirrored on her performing profession being featured on the Smithsonian’s Nationwide Museum of African American Historical past and Tradition in Washington, D.C.
“I severely cannot even digest it,” Spencer stated. “I imply, to begin with, that the present is remembered from 40 years [ago], however then additionally to be featured on this museum together with different reveals which have been trailblazers.”
Spencer stated that her late stepfather introduced her into the world of performing. At age 9, she stated she received the decision that she had received the position of Dee in “What’s Taking place!!”
“A month later I received a cellphone name, they usually stated, ‘Fly out to California. You may have the position.’ And it was identical to my life modified,” she stated.
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