Born in New Rochelle, New York, in 1942, Richard Roundtree was an American actor who effectively invented the modern black screen action hero as private eye John Shaft in Gordon Parks s Shaft (1971), a landmark of the blaxploitation era. He reprised the role in Shaft s Big Score! (1972) and a short-lived television series, then moved into steady character work in Roots (1977) and countless films and shows over the following decades. He returned as a paternal Shaft in the 2000 reboot and the 2019 sequel, closing the loop on one of the most iconic screen personas of his time. Roundtree, who survived male breast cancer and later spoke openly about it, died in 2023, remembered as a genuine trailblazer. Read more