Roundtree is most famously known for the Shaft franchise which comprised five action-crime feature films and seven television films.
“Shaft,” released in 1971, was adapted from a 1970 Ernest Tidyman novel of the same name. It was Roundtree’s first film. According to a 2019 profile in the New York Times, “he had been a model, stage actor and cabdriver when the acclaimed black photographer-turned-director Gordon Parks plucked him from a cattle call.”
“Shaft” and its sequels turned Roundtree into a blaxploitation star — the term is a portmanteau “Black” and “exploitation” — who would go on to appear in more than 100 films and television shows, according to IMDb. His TV credits on widely varying shows include “Roots,” “MacGyver,” “Beverly Hills, 90210” and “Being Mary Jane.”
Gabrielle Union, who starred in BET’s “Being Mary Jane” alongside Roundtree, described him as “ALWAYS the coolest man in the room.”
People “would literally run over to come see him. He was simply the best & we all loved him,” she said on the social media app X, formerly Twitter.
In its statement, Roundtree’s agency said “His trailblazing career changed the face of entertainment around the globe and his enduring legacy will be felt for generations to come.”
This is a developing story that will be updated.
