Spencer became a veterinarian after retiring from acting in the late 1980s and later wrote a well-regarded memoir about her experiences

On "What's Happening!!" Spencer turned herself into a household name at just 11 years old, playing the sassy and quick-witted Dee Thomas.

Danielle Spencer, the actress who played the lovably bratty and witty teenager on the 1970s hit sitcom “What’s Happening!!” and its spinoff, “What’s Happening Now!!,” before spending much of her adult life as a veterinarian, died on Monday at Chippenham Hospital in Richmond, Va. She was 60.