R.I.P. Richard Roundtree, the eternally cool star of Shaft

Richard Roundtree, the iconic star of Shaft, which helped explode the mainstream popularity of Black cinema in the 1970s, has died. Roundtree, who survived breast cancer in the early 90s, was recently diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. His agency confirmed the actor’s death to Deadline. He was 81.

Born on July 9, 1942, in New Rochelle, New York, Roundtree was the son
of a garbage collector and a nurse. In 1961, he took a football
scholarship to Southern Illinois University, dropping out two years
later to pursue modeling. He would later move to New York City and pursue stage acting.

At this point, it’s impossible to separate Roundtree from his most iconic role: John Shaft. Ironically, the studio initially considered casting a white actor for the part, most notably Michael Murphy, who played a different character named John Shaft in Robert Altman’s Brewster McCloud. However, director Gordon Parks spotted Roundtree during casting and insisted on hiring the aspiring actor. Roundtree worked as a model, stage actor, and cab driver throughout the 60s. Released in 1971, Shaft would be his first feature film. Roundtree was 28.

“That was a heady time,” Roundtree told The New York Times in 2019. “I remember driving a cab in this town for two years and dropping people off at places like the Jockey Club and Sardi’s. I would think to myself, “One day, I’m going to …” And it happened. The night they introduced me to the media saying that I was going to be playing Shaft was at Sardi’s. I’m dropped off in a limo and the paparazzi and the press is all there. The whole world turned around.”

He would portray the character four more times, appearing as a complicated man that no one understands but his woman in Shaft’s Big Score!, Shaft In Africa, the Shaft TV series, and the 2000 and 2019 reboots. Though other actors attempted to put their stamp on the character, Roundtree’s control, charisma, and striking appearance in his leather trenchcoat and turtleneck remained a necessary component, personifying the laidback, sexy cool evoked in Isaac Hayes’ iconic, Oscar-winning theme.

Shaft launched a steady and successful career for the actor, who continued to star in films big and small. He worked opposite Laurence Olivier, Ben Gazzara, and Toshiro Mifune in Inchon, Clint Eastwood and Burt Reynolds in 1984’s City Heat, and Peter O’Toole in Man Friday. Roundtree also appeared regularly on television, including in the revered miniseries Roots. Throughout his career, he also became a solid supporting player in any genre, with memorable turns in Seven, George Of The Jungle, Maniac Cop, Brick, and Speed Racer.

In 1993, he was diagnosed with a rare form of breast cancer, a diagnosis he had to keep secret because “no insurance company would insure” him. “I was in the closet, so to speak, until after the fifth year when I was cancer-free,” Roundtree said. He received chemotherapy and a double mastectomy, which inspired him to become an advocate for breast cancer awareness, suddenly, during a celebrity golf tournament to raise money for breast cancer diagnostic tools.“I just got up and told everybody that I was a breast cancer survivor. The room was totally silent. I think it dawned on people that men can be affected by this, too.”

Though Roundtree would often be at odds with the character that defined him, he acknowledged and remained proud of its groundbreaking influence.

“People come up and ask me if we really need this image of Shaft the Black superman. Hell, yes, there’s a place for John Shaft,” Parks told Roger Ebert in 1972. “I was overwhelmed by our world premiere on Broadway. Suddenly, I was the perpetrator of a hero. Ghetto kids were coming downtown to see their hero, Shaft, and here was a Black man on the screen they didn’t have to be ashamed of. Here they had a chance to spend their $3 on something they wanted to see. We need movies about the history of our people, yes, but we need heroic fantasies about our people, too. We all need a little James Bond now and then.”