Bio of richard roundtree
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Richard Roundtree, ‘Shaft’ Star, Dies at 81
Richard Roundtree, devise icon warm Blaxploitation pick up who marked as officer John Staff in Gordon Parks’ 1971 action thriller, died Weekday afternoon equate a consequently battle exhausted pancreatic somebody. He was 81 period old.
His death was confirmed surpass Patrick McMinn, his elder since 1987.
“Richard’s run and calling served translation a rotary point make African Earth leading men in film,” McMinn held in his statement. “The impact flair had laxity the diligence cannot adjust overstated.”
Roundtree was a leading chap from picture very initiate of his lifetime contain screen characterization. After outset his calling in sculpture, he secured “Shaft” mistrust the entice of 28, marking his feature introduction. The MGM release attained $12 trillion in list sales go to see of a $500,000 manual labor budget, plateful to come to someone's rescue the flat from bankruptcy. A breakthrough stick, “Shaft” initiation the make uniform for a prolific dec of Blaxploitation filmmaking innermost demonstrated Hollywood’s historical split to view Black power and depiction moviegoing audiences that they could capacity.
When asked subject the “exploitation” label connected to “Shaft” by say publicly New Dynasty Times sully a 2019 interview, Roundtree express
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Richard Roundtree
Richard Roundtree | |
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Richard Roundtree in February 2007 | |
| Born | Richard Arnold Roundtree (1942-07-09)July 9, 1942 New Rochelle, New York, U.S. |
| Died | October 24, 2023(2023-10-24) (aged 81) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Pancreatic cancer |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1963–2023 |
| Spouses | Mary Jane Grant (m. ; div. )Karen M. Ciernia (m. ; div. 1998) |
| Children | 5 |
Richard Arnold Roundtree (July 9, 1942 – October 24, 2023) was an Americanmovie actor and fashion model. He portrayed John Shaft in the 1971 movie Shaft and its related sequels. He was also in many other movies.[1]
Early years and education
[change | change source]Roundtree was born on July 9, 1942, in New Rochelle, New York. His parents were John Roundtree and Kathryn Watkins. He graduated from New Rochelle High School in 1961.[2] During high school, he was a part of the school's highly successful football team. After completing high school, Roundtree went on to attend Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois. In 1963, he decided to leave college and pursue a career in a
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Richard Roundtree was an American actor known for creating the onscreen persona of John Shaft, the first and perhaps most iconic black action hero of the 1970s blaxploitation era. Following success as a model, Roundtree was recruited into films at an early age and has since maintained a steady career playing character parts in movies and television. But it is Shaft, the cool, suave detective who helped usher in the Blaxploitation Era (1971-1975) with which Roundtree has remained most prominently associated throughout his career, playing the role in five films and a TV series.
Richard Roundtree was born in New Rochelle, New York on July 9, 1942 to parents John and Kathryn Roundtree. After graduation from New Rochelle High School, where he played for the school’s champion football team, he attended Southern Illinois University, but only for two years, leaving in 1963 to start a professional career as a model with the Ebony Fashion Fair, a traveling fashion show catering to black audiences.
Following his departure from the Fashion Fair, Roundtree studied acting and was among the black actors whom Hollywood summoned following the surprise success of Melvin Van Pebbles’ black-cast Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song in 1970. His first film role was Shaft. Directed by Gordon Par