Richard Roundtree, the suave actor who portrayed private eye John Shaft in the 1971 movie “Shaft,” died Tuesday. He was 81.
“Richard’s work and career served as a turning point for African American leading men in film,” McMinn said in a statement. “The impact he had on the industry cannot be overstated.”
Richard Roundtree, an icon of Blaxploitation film who starred as detective John Shaft in Gordon Parks’ 1971 action thriller, has died. He was 81 years old.reported. His acting crossed several genres, from his most popular blaxploitation role to an early appearance on the soap opera “As the World Turns” in 1956. He appeared in eight episodes of “Cherish the Day” last year, the entertainment news website reported.
Roundtree reprised his role as John Shaft in the movie’s sequels, “Shaft’s Big Score!” in 1972 and “Shaft in Africa” the following year,Roundtree was born on July 9, 1942, in New Rochelle, New York, according to the entertainment news website. He attended New Rochelle High School and played for its undefeated football team.
After graduating in 1961, Roundtree attended Southern Illinois University and earned a football scholarship as a walk-on, but he left in 1963 to pursue a modeling career. Roundtree was in a Philadelphia theater in the role of a boxer in a production of “The Great White Hope” when he heard about auditions for “Shaft,” according to“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,” ParksRoger Ebert in a 1972 interview. “I was overwhelmed by our world premiere on Broadway. Suddenly, I was the perpetrator of a hero.
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