Updated October 25, 2023 at 11:00 AM ET

Richard Roundtree, who died Tuesday at 81 in Los Angeles, was easily one of the coolest actors ever.

When he was cast as the Black private eye John Shaft in the 1971 film of the same name, the former college football player and model was relatively unknown.

But he commanded the screen from the very first minutes of its opening sequence, said film scholar Novotny Lawrence.

"This guy, he comes up out of the subway, he's walking down the streets of New York City and he's owning it," Lawrence said.

Shaft was a new kind of figure in film, unapologetically Black with swagger. He clapped back at white cops who said dumb things; he busted mobsters.

"He gave Black people that icon in the '70s," Lawrence said.

Shaft was a huge success and helped create an entire genre: Blaxploitation.

Roundtree went on to star in a few Shaft sequels and had more than a 150 movie and TV credits, ranging from Roots to Desperate Housewives to Being Mary Jane.

Richard Roundtree pictured in August 1972.

Richard Roundtree pictured in August 1972. / Getty Images

He also went public with his 1993 diagnosis of breast cancer. In doing that, he "became a figure to demonstrate, 'Men, it's OK, Shaft had breast cancer," Lawrence said.

Roundtree died Tuesday from pancreatic cancer. He is survived by five children.

Actor Samuel L. Jackson, who starred in later Shaft films, suggested on social media that Roundtree was surely walking that unforgettable Shaft stride in Heaven — that swagger that left deep footprints in film and in American culture.

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