Actor Richard Roundtree, 81, has passed away, most famous for his portrayal of private investigator John Shaft in the first "Shaft" film and its two sequels.
According to his relatives, Roundtree passed away from pancreatic cancer at his Los Angeles residence.
Roundtree, who was born in New Rochelle, New York, started his acting career in the late 1960s, performing in a few plays and landing supporting parts on television. When he was hired as the lead in the 1971 film "Shaft," a landmark in the blaxploitation genre, his career took off.
As the tough, street-wise investigator Shaft, who takes on the mafia, Roundtree's depiction of the character marked a watershed moment for African-American representation in Hollywood. After the success of "Shaft," Roundtree reprised the character in two sequels, "Shaft's Big Score!" (1972) and "Shaft in Africa" (1973), both of which again did well at the box office.
In the 1980s and 1990s, Roundtree appeared in films like "City Heat" (1984) and "Q&A" (1990), proving that he was still active as an actor well into the '90s. On the TV show "Roots: The Next Generations" (1979), he appeared on a regular basis.
Roundtree returned to the character of Shaft in John Singleton's 2000 sequel, also titled "Shaft." The 2019 sequel "Shaft," featuring Samuel L. Jackson as his nephew, features him as well.
Karen and their daughters Kelli and Tayler Roundtree are the ones who will go on after him.