Richard Roundtree, the star of the Nineteen Seventies “Shaft” movie franchise, died Tuesday after a short battle with pancreatic most cancers. He was 81.
His longtime supervisor, Patrick McMinn, confirmed the star’s dying per the New York Instances and stated he’d been recognized two months in the past.
Richard Arnold Roundtree was born on July 9, 1942, in New Rochelle, N.Y., to John and Kathryn Roundtree.
Usually heralded as the primary Black motion hero, Roundtree shot to superstardom together with his portrayal of personal eye and smooth-talking girl’s man John Shaft in director Gordon Parks’ 1971 motion thriller. “Shaft” was tailored by Ernest Tidyman and John D.F. Black from Tidyman’s novel. Roundtree additionally starred within the 1972 sequel “Shaft’s Large Rating!” and 1973’s “Shaft in Africa,” in addition to the 1973 “Shaft” tv spinoff collection.
“It put me on the map, primary,” Roundtree informed Dateline of the position in 1999. “It has afforded me an extended profession as a result of I’ve been forged largely in authoritative roles, which is an efficient factor,”
The star informed The Instances in 2019 that he may nonetheless recall the interview with director Parks that took his profession from modeling for the Ebony Vogue Truthful to being the man everybody needed to be. “I used to be sitting in his workplace and he’s saying, ‘We’re type of in search of a man who seems to be like this,’” stated Roundtree. “And I look over, and it’s an advert that I had performed. ‘That’s me!’”
Richard Roundtree is seen throughout filming in New York in March 1972.
(Ron Frehm / Related Press)
Roundtree’s casting in “Shaft” relied on his apparent swagger, however in accordance with Parks, it was his mustache that sealed the deal. Parks admitted he virtually fired Roundtree, who had a razor in hand, and informed him a powerful ’stache was essential in making a Black hero who may compete with James Bond and Steve McQueen. “The day earlier than we began capturing in New York, Joel Freeman, my line producer, informed Richard to go minimize his mustache off,” Parks stated within the 2022 Criterion Assortment’s featurette “Revisiting Shaft.”
“I noticed Richard strolling throughout the ground with a razor and I stated, ‘Don’t take an excessive amount of of the mustache off, Richard.’ He stated, ‘I used to be going to take all of it off.’ I stated, ‘You wouldn’t have a job if you happen to did.’
“The romantic hero half, the mustache, you’ll be delighted to know, it was the primary mustache placed on a Black hero on movie ever,” Parks stated.
For his efficiency within the 1971 basic, Roundtree was nominated for a Golden Globe as new star of the yr. He went on to seem reverse Laurence Olivier and Ben Gazzara within the 1981 battle epic “Inchon.” On the small display screen, he performed slave Sam Bennett within the 1977 tv collection “Roots,” then starred as Dr. Daniel Reubens on the primary cleaning soap opera to characteristic an African American household from its inception, “Generations,” from 1989 to 1991.
He additionally took on the position of a personal eye as soon as extra for 1984’s crime comedy “Metropolis Warmth,” starring alongside Clint Eastwood and Burt Reynolds. And he acted alongside Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman within the acclaimed 1995 dramatic thriller “Seven.”
In 2000, Roundtree reprised his position as John Shaft within the “Shaft” motion crime thriller directed by John Singleton. Samuel L. Jackson starred within the title position as John Shaft’s nephew. Vanessa Williams, Jeffrey Wright, Christian Bale, Dan Hedaya, Busta Rhymes and Toni Collette additionally acted alongside Roundtree within the aughts iteration of the franchise. Jackson informed The Instances in 2019 that he’d grown up watching Roundtree because the effortlessly cool Harlem detective, and when he took on the position, he’d hoped to garner a little extra of Roundtree’s sex-symbol standing.
“You created an entire stage of cool, that’s the mom— I should be,” Jackson stated. “All people needed to be you for a really very long time. I didn’t need to be [Youngblood] Priest. I didn’t need to be The Mack. I didn’t need to be Leon Isaac Kennedy in ‘Penitentiary.’ You outlined what cool was — you had the look, the stroll, the perspective.”
Most lately, Roundtree starred reverse Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda within the 2022 comedy movie “Shifting On.”
“Artists & Representatives Company mourns the lack of our buddy and consumer Richard Roundtree,” the company informed Deadline in an announcement. “His trailblazing profession modified the face of leisure across the globe and his enduring legacy might be felt for generations to return. Our hearts are together with his household and family members throughout this tough time.”
Roundtree had beforehand battled most cancers. Within the ’90s, the motion star hid his years-long battle with breast most cancers earlier than ultimately speaking publicly.
In a 1999 interview with Dateline NBC, Roundtree opened up about his prognosis, saying, “Breast most cancers? Solely it was a very a feminine factor,” he informed the outlet, admitting that he’d by no means identified about male breast most cancers previous to his personal battle. Inside days of his prognosis, surgeons carried out a radical mastectomy on the Movement Image and Tv hospital exterior of Los Angeles.
“It was scary. Understanding that I used to be going to lose a part of my physique. … I stroll round with a T-shirt on it and I can see that there’s no pectoral muscle there in any way. So I’ve an inkling of what a girl should really feel like. It’s part of your physique; it’s gone.”
When the Dateline host informed Roundtree that he checked out him and noticed him as that fearless man from his films, he replied, “There was no digital camera rolling right here, child.”
In 2019, Sirius XM requested Roundtree if he was conscious of the optimistic influence John Shaft had on the Black neighborhood.
“Consistently reminded of it,” he stated. “I had an expertise at LAX, coming by means of TSA, and this man was watching me. And as I get by means of, he stated, ‘Can I’ve a phrase with you?’ He says, ‘I’m from Alabama. And as a child, we needed to sit up within the balcony. And due to watching that movie, it made me attempt for one thing greater than Alabama.’
“And he was in cost at … LAX. And people forms of tales I’ve heard all these years. Individuals will come as much as me and say issues like that. I’m very happy with that.”
“The Actual” host and Emmy-winning comic Loni Love memorialized the “Shaft” star on Fb, writing, “Thanks Mr. Roundtree for being that Black Tremendous hero we would have liked at a time that few Black males may very well be seen in movie.”
