Shaft (1971) - Trailer

"Shaft" star Richard Roundtree, the trailblazing actor who starred as the ultra-smooth private detective in several “Shaft” films beginning in the early 1970s, has died. He was 81. | AP

Actor Richard Roundtree has died. He was best known as the smart and tough private investigator, John Shaft. Many regarded Shaft as the first Black American action hero on film. Roundtree became a men’s health advocate after revealing his breast cancer diagnosis in the early 1990s. Richard Roundtree was 81 years old. | Inside Edition