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Richard Roundtree was simply put an icon who helped popularize the blaxploitation genre thanks to his role in the 1971 film Shaft. As an uncompromising private detective, he wouldn’t be denied. We know because the infamous theme song by Isaac Hayes told us so:

They say this cat Shaft is a bad mother

(Shut your mouth)

But I’m talkin’ ’bout Shaft

(Then we can dig it)

The theme song helped catapult the movie into the epitome of pop-culture status. Isaac Hayes said before he died in 2008 that the song was “like the shot heard round the world.” The single won an Academy Award for best song in 1971 and two Grammys the following year.

Roundtree embodied the role of John Shaft. As Roundtree professed in a 1972 article in The New York Times, he was portraying “a Black man who is for once a winner.”

Richard Ronald Roundtree was born in New Rochelle, New York to his mother Kathryn, a cook and housekeeper, and John, a refuse collector and later a church minister. He attended New Rochelle high school and earned a football scholarship to Southern Illinois University. He left school soon after arriving to pursue an acting and modeling career. After working at Barneys department store, he toured with the Ebony Fashion Fair. He then joined the Negro Ensemble Company in New York City and starred in its 1967 production of The Great White Hope.

It would be his role as detective John Shaft that changed the game. He was 28-years-old and this was his first feature film. The popularity of Shaft turned Roundtree into a superstar with two subsequent sequels: Shaft’s Big Score (1972) and Shaft in Africa (1973). He appeared in numerous films throughout the 1970’s, including the ABC television miniseries Roots (1977).

In the 1970’s, blaxploitation referred to independently produced films that usually had extremely low budgets. They were predominantly made my Black crews for Black audiences – everything from action to horror, and even musicals. Crime, sex, drugs, and racial tensions were common subjects for these ‘Black’ and ‘exploitation’ type films.

Blaxploitation films actually had a moral purpose and a political mandate. Within this, audiences were able to talk back to the screen, yell if they wanted to, voice their true thoughts about what was happening in the world, all while enacting this sort of vengeance and speaking truth to power. These films were liberating and spot on with capturing the cultural awareness of the time within Black identity.

When Richard Roundtree came upon the screen in Shaft, with his perfectly groomed afro, mustache, and sideburns, the swagger in his walk let you know this was going to be something to remember. The turtleneck and brown leather trench coat sealed the deal. He was an instant superhero.

Roundtree introduced us to a new type of Black masculinity to mainstream film. Where previous Black actors such as Sidney Poitier had played civil, poised and asexual characters, Roundtree’s Shaft was heroic, sexual, wisecracking and unapologetically Black. Although he was a hard-nosed private detective, he didn’t emulate his white counterparts or look up to them. He said what he wanted to; he did whatever he wanted to. He didn’t take crap from anybody, and we loved it.

What I find interesting about Roundtree is that he could never shake being Shaft. Regardless of how many films and television shows he did, he was always recognized for being the iconic character.

We also loved him as Paul Patterson, Sr., Mary Jane’s father on the BET hit show Being Mary Jane. He actually loved that role as well. It was the response he received from people who connected with the relatable themes of the show, including the rising suicide rates among Black men. His character had heartfelt chats with his children which made him wish that he’d been equipped with things to say to his own children. “I wish I could be that forthright. I wish I could have been that forthright with them and it shows — the unnerving part is it shows my shortcomings with my own kids,” he said.

Roundtree’s work served as a turning point for Black leading men in film, and opened the door for actors like Fred Williamson, a blaxploitation legend, in Black Caesar (1973). Thalmus Rasulala made his mark in the blaxploitation genre by co-starring in films such as Cornbread, Earl and Me (1975), and alongside Pam Grier in Friday Foster (1975). We can’t forget about Ron O’Neal who became the most controversial blaxploitation star in Superfly (1972). We loved to hate this pimp who abused women and cocaine. His character Priest was like an urban James Bond-type who did not play with anyone.

Roundtree inspired an entire genre of film where Black leading men were taking up space on screen. He continued to inspire new audiences who were discovering new reasons to love his work. We will always dig that.