Renowned actor Richard Roundtree, famous for portraying the iconic character John Shaft in five films and a short-lived TV series, has passed away at the age of 81. Roundtree was at his Los Angeles home with family when he passed due to pancreatic cancer. Starting his career on the stage with New York's Negro Ensemble Company, the actor became a star with his debut feature film "Shaft" in 1971. His performance as private detective John Shaft was pivotal in shaping the blaxploitation genre and made Shaft an action hero, who was "hotter than Bond, cooler than Bullitt".

Roundtree returned as Shaft in two sequels "Shaft’s Big Score!" (1972) and "Shaft in Africa" (1973), a TV series (1973-1974), and was also part of the 2000 and 2019 film adaptations of Shaft. During his long career, the actor made appearances in several TV shows and other films like "Earthquake" (1974), "Escape to Athena" (1979), "City Heat" (1984), "Maniac Cop" (1988), "Seven" (1995), "George of the Jungle" (1997), and "Speed Racer" (2008). Roundtree's co-stars Samuel L. Jackson and Gabrielle Union paid tribute to him, with Jackson calling him the best to have ever done it.