Danielle Spencer, What’s Happening!! Star, Dead at 60

Hollywood is mourning one of their own.

Danielle Spencer—best known for her role as Dee Thomas on the 1970s sitcom What’s Happening!!—has died, her former costar Haywood Nelson confirmed. She was 60.

While authorities have not shared an official cause of death, Nelson noted that Spencer had a “long battle with cancer” before she passed.

“Dr. Dee, our brilliant, loving, positive, pragmatic warrior, without fail,” Nelson, who portrayed Dwayne Nelson on What’s Happening!!, wrote on Instagram Aug. 12, “has finally found her release from the clutches of this world and a body.”

He added, “We have lost a daughter, sister, family member, What’s Happening cast member, veterinarian animal rights proponent and healer, and cancer heroine. Our Shero. Danielle is loved. She will be missed in this form and forever embraced.”

Nelson told The Hollywood Reporter that she died in a Richmond, Va., hospital on Aug. 11, telling the outlet, “She suffered for a very long time but did it with a great deal of courage.”