Spencer, who became a veterinarian later in life, died Monday at a hospital in Richmond, Va., after a years-long battle with cancer, family spokesperson Sandra Jones said.
As Dee, Spencer was the smahttps://www.npr.org/2025/08/12/nx-s1-5500593/danielle-spencer-who-played-little-sister-dee-on-whats-happening-dies-at-60rter, more serious younger sister who offered a steady stream of deadpan roasts of big brother Roger "Raj" Thomas and his friends Dwayne Nelson and Freddie "Rerun" Stubbs.
"Ooh, I'm gonna tell mama," would become Dee's catchphrase.
The show, set in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Watts and among the first on television to focus on the lives of Black teenagers, was based on the movie Cooley High and ran on ABC from 1976 to 1979. It had a long legacy thanks to its memorable characters, including the geeky Raj, the catchphrase-spouting Dwayne, the red-bereted dancing phenom Rerun, and Dee with her eye-rolls and icy stare.
A group of potentially diseased lab monkeys escaped after a vehicle crash on a main interstate...
June Lockhart, who became a mother figure for a generation of television viewers whether at home...
