The What’s Taking place!! forged has been by means of loads since they final labored collectively on their sequel sitcom, What’s Taking place Now!! A number of actors from the present have died, with the latest being Danielle Spencer, who performed Dee Thomas. She battled a number of well being points, together with most cancers.
By way of the top of her life, Danielle remained mates with a few of her former co-stars, together with Haywood Nelson, who performed Dwayne on the present. Haywood introduced her loss of life in an Instagram put up on August 12, 2025, calling Danielle a “sensible, loving, constructive, pragmatic warrior, with out fail.”
Ernest Thomas, who performed Danielle’s on-screen brother, Raj, additionally shared a heartfelt tribute to the late actress and veterinarian through Instagram. He wrote, partly, “No extra struggling for my child sister Dr. Danielle Spencer.”
Beneath, study the place the remainder of the What’s Taking place!! forged members are actually.
Born on June twenty fourth 1965 in Bronx, NY., This Superb Youngster Actress is Most Recognized to Us For Enjoying Dee Thomas within the Hit Sitcom What’s Taking place! #daniellespencer #whatshappening pic.twitter.com/eUU8OlrUvb
— 80sThen80sNow (@80sThen80sNow) August 12, 2025
Roger Everett Gerald “Raj” Thomas: Ernest Thomas
Ernest performed the teenager protagonist, Raj, who incessantly stumbled into comical hassle and needed to discover a manner out of it.
Ernest had already established himself as an actor earlier than touchdown his lead function in What’s Taking place!! Three years after the present was canceled, he reprised his function as Raj for the sequel collection, What’s Taking place Now!! and he finally landed the function of Mr. Omar in Everyone Hates Chris. Since 2024, Ernest has voiced the function of Mr. Omar within the animated sitcom Everyone Nonetheless Hates Chris.
Dwayne Clemens Nelson: Haywood Nelson
Earlier than enjoying Dwayne in What’s Taking place!!, Haywood obtained his large break on the cleaning soap opera Because the World Turns, enjoying Jerry Smith from 1971 to 1974. Due to his success with What’s Taking place!! and What’s Taking place Now!!, Dwayne turned a teen heartthrob in Hollywood.
📺DEBUT: ‘What’s Taking place!!’ premiered 49 years in the past, August 5, 1976, on ABC pic.twitter.com/oUE51GHx7t
— RetroNewsNow (@RetroNewsNow) August 6, 2025
Freddy J. “Rerun” Stubbs: Fred Berry
Fred Berry obtained his begin in showbiz as a dancer for the Los Angeles-based troupe The Lockers, an expertise that helped form his What’s Taking place!! character, Rerun. The character turned a fan-favorite due to the actor’s dancing abilities and charisma.
Sadly, Fred struggled with medication and alcohol abuse all through his profession, and he died in October 2003.
Deadra “Dee” Thomas: Danielle Spencer
Like most of her co-stars, Danielle turned well-known for her What’s Taking place!! gig. After the sequel sitcom ended within the Eighties, Danielle booked a couple of extra on-screen roles till the early 2000s. Outdoors of showbusiness, Danielle turned a veterinarian. She attended UC Davis and UCLA for veterinary research, and he or she earned a doctorate diploma from Tuskegee College Veterinary Faculty.
Whereas starring in What’s Taking place!!, Danielle was concerned in a life-threatening automotive accident in 1977, which killed her stepfather, Tim Pelt, and left her in a coma for 3 weeks. She had no reminiscence of the crash, and he or she spent a number of months in bodily remedy.
Danielle died in August 2025 after affected by a number of well being points, together with most cancers and a urinary tract an infection that turned septic, per TMZ.
Mabel “Mama” Thomas: Mabel King
Not like Mabel King‘s co-stars, the late actress didn’t start her performing profession till her mid-30s. She began in stage productions, then was supplied the function of Mama Thomas within the Nineteen Seventies. She left the present after two seasons in 1978 and landed visitor roles in different TV collection, together with The Jeffersons and Fantasy Island. In movie, Mabel appeared in The Jerk, The Jerk, Too, Scrooged and Useless Males Don’t Die.
Mabel suffered from diabetes all through her profession, which resulted in amputations and her eventual loss of life in November 1999. She was 66 years previous.
Shirley Wilson: Shirley Hemphill
Shirley Hemphill was an actress and comic, and due to What’s Taking place!! and its sequel present, she booked a number of on-screen gigs all through her profession. Shirley appeared within the collection One in a Million and booked a couple of extra TV roles all through the Nineteen Nineties.
Nonetheless, Shirley’s life sadly ended when she was simply 52 years previous. In December 1999, Shirley was discovered useless at her house, and her post-mortem decided that she died of kidney failure.
