What’s Happening!! was one of the most beloved sitcoms of the 1970s. Featuring a core cast of six actors, the popular ABC sitcom focused on a group of Black teens living in Los Angeles. The series aired from 1976 to 1979 and later scored a spinoff in the mid-1980s titled What’s Happening Now!!
The original What’s Happening!! cast featured Ernest Lee Thomas as Raj Thomas, Haywood Nelson as Dwayne Nelson, Fred Berry as “Rerun” Stubbs, Mable King as “Mama” Thomas, Danielle Spencer as Dee Thomas, and Shirley Hemphill as sassy soda shop waitress, Shirley Wilson.
On Aug. 11, the death of the show’s youngest cast member, Danielle Spencer, was announced by her brother, Jeremy Pelt. “After many years, my big sister, Dr. Danielle Louise Spencer lost her battle with cancer,” Pelt wrote on Instagram.
Spencer’s death came less than two months after her 60th birthday.
Four ‘What’s Happening!!’ Cast Members Died in Their 50s and 60s
Spencer is not the first What’s Happening!! star who died too young. In November 1999, “Mama” Mabel King died in a California hospital after a long illness complicated by diabetes, The New York Times reported. King, a beloved Broadway actress who played wicked witch Eveline in The Wiz, was just 66 years old at the time of her death.
Less than one month after King’s death, What’s Happening!! co-star Shirley Hemphill died suddenly. On Dec. 10, 1999, Hemphill was found dead at her West Covina, CA home by a gardener. An autopsy determined that the actress died of kidney failure, per her obituary. Hemphill was 52 years old when she died.
In October 2003, another What’s Happening!! star died at age 52. Fred Berry, who played Rerun on the show, died at his home in Los Angeles of natural causes, CBS News reported. The beloved actor had also suffered a stroke before his death, the outlet noted.
Only 2 ‘What’s Happening’ Stars Are Still Living
There are only two What’s Happening!! cast members living following Spencer’s recent death, and they both paid tribute to her on social media. Thomas, who played Spencer’s big brother Raj on the sitcom, posted a throwback photo to Instagram and wrote, “’No more suffering’ for my baby sister DR. DANIELLE SPENCER.” He also revealed that he was Spencer’s big brother for life and had hoped to relocate her to Los Angeles for her final months.
Nelson also posted a tribute on Instagram and described Spencer as “a daughter, sister, family member, ‘What’s Happening’ cast member, veterinarian, animal rights proponent and healer, and cancer heroine.” “She will be missed in this form and forever embraced,” the What’s Happening!! star wrote.
Related: ‘What’s Happening’ Cast Member Breaks Silence on TV Sister Danielle Spencer’s Death