Sitcom Stars Pay Their Respects to ‘What’s Happening!!’ Actress Danielle Spencer
When news of Dr. Danielle Spencer’s death made news on Monday, her What's Happening!! family wasted no time in remembering their spectacularly sarcastic TV sister.
Spencer’s longtime costar, Haywood Nelson, was the first to honor Spencer’s sitcom-defining legacy, announcing on Instagram that the famous funny girl who played Dee Nelson had passed away following a long battle with cancer.
“Dr. Dee, our brilliant, loving, positive, pragmatic warrior, without fail, has finally found her release from the clutches of this world and a body,” Nelson wrote of his “shero.” “Danielle is loved. She will be missed in this form and forever embraced.”
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Ernest Lee Thomas paid respects to his on-screen little sister by reflecting on nearly 50 years of “supernatural friendship” and their “millions” of shared laughs. “No more suffering for my baby sister DR. DANIELLE SPENCER,” he captioned a photo of them together. “She decided at nine years old I was going to be her big brother for life.”
Nelson largely stepped away from acting during adulthood and became a veterinarian in 1996, but her legacy endured.
Case in point: Shortly after the news broke of Spencer’s death, 21 Jump Street star Holly Robinson Peete recalled watching Spencer’s underrated comedy chops from What’s Happening!!’s studio audience.
“Sis, your comedic timing was unmatched!!” Peete remembered in an Instagram post. “The audience couldn’t wait for you to just open your mouth or cut your eyes.”
RIP, “Deadpan Dynamo.”