Denise Donna Nicholas (born July 12, 1944) is an American actress. Nicholas played high-school guidance counselor Liz McIntyre on the ABC comedy-drama series Room 222 and Councilwoman Harriet DeLong on the NBC/CBS drama series In the Heat of the Night. Biography Early life and education Nicholas was born in Detroit to Louise and Otto Nicholas. Nicholas spent her early years in Detroit. With the remarriage of her mother to Robert Burgen, she moved to Milan, Michigan, a small town south of Ann Arbor. At the age of 16, Nicholas appeared on the August 25, 1960, cover of Jet magazine as a future school teacher prospect at the National High School Institute at Northwestern University. She graduated from Milan High School in 1961. Nicholas is the middle child of three, with an older brother, Otto, and a younger sister, Michele, who was murdered in 1980. Nicholas entered the University of Michigan as a Pre-Law student. Nicholas then switched her major to Latin-American politics, Spanish, and English before dropping out after her second completed academic year. Nicholas moved to New York City, and worked for the J. Walter Thompson (JWT) advertising firm. She subsequently transferred to Tulane University, where she majored in Fine Arts. Her acting debut was in a Spanish-language play presented by her language class. Nicholas dropped out of Tulane University as well, this time to join the Free Southern Theater (FST), during the Civil Rights Movement. After spending two years touring the deep South with the FST, Nicholas went to New York City and joined the Negro Ensemble Company, working in all productions during the first season of that theatre ensemble. From the stage of the St. Mark's Playhouse in New York, Nicholas was cast as Liz McIntyre, the Guidance Counselor on ABC series Room 222. Nicholas received her Bachelor of Arts in Drama from the University of Southern California Theater Program in 1987, after living in Southern California for a number of years. Career Nicholas began her television acting career in 1968, with an episode of It Takes a Thief. Nicholas had three consecutive (1970–1972) Golden Globe nominations for Best Actress in a Drama TV Series, for her role as Liz McIntyre on the ABC comedy-drama series Room 222. Following Room 222 (1969–1974), she won two Image Awards in 1976 for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture and Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series, for her role as