Richard Roundtree

Acting

Richard Roundtree

Born 1942-07-09 · New Rochelle, New York, USA

Richard Arnold Roundtree (July 9, 1942 – October 24, 2023) was an American actor. He is noted as being "the first black action hero" for his portrayal of private detective John Shaft in the 1971 film Shaft, and its four sequels, released between 1972 and 2019. For his performance in the original film, he was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actor in 1972. Roundtree died of pancreatic cancer at his home in Los Angeles. He was cremated at Chapel of the Pines Crematory. His family hosted a memorial service for him at Saint Catherine African Methodist Episcopal Church in New Rochelle, New York on February 17, 2024.

Acting credits

Se7en poster
8.4

Two homicide detectives are on a desperate hunt for a serial killer whose crimes are based on the "seven deadly sins" in this dark and haunting film that takes viewers from the tortured remains of one victim to the next. The seasoned Det. Somerset researches each sin in an effort to get inside the killer's mind, while his novice partner, Mills, scoffs at his efforts to unravel the case.

Se7en

1995

Speed Racer poster
6.4

Speed Racer is a young and brilliant racing driver. When corruption in the racing leagues costs his brother his life, Speed must team up with the police and the mysterious Racer X to bring an end to the corruption and criminal activities.

Speed Racer

2008

Shaft poster
6.5

JJ, aka John Shaft Jr., may be a cyber security expert with a degree from MIT, but to uncover the truth behind his best friend’s untimely death, he needs an education only his dad can provide. Absent throughout JJ’s youth, the legendary locked-and-loaded John Shaft agrees to help his progeny navigate Harlem’s heroin-infested underbelly.

Shaft

2019

Undercover Brother poster
5.9

An Afro-American organization, the B.R.O.T.H.E.R.H.O.O.D., is in permanent fight against a white organization "The Man" defending the values of the black people in North America. When the Afro-American candidate Gen. Warren Boutwell behaves strangely in his presidential campaign, Undercover Brother is hired to work undercover for "The Man" and find what happened with the potential candidate.

Undercover Brother

2002

George of the Jungle poster
5.7

Deep in the African jungle, a baby named George, the sole survivor of a plane crash, is raised by gorillas. George grows up to be a buff and lovable klutz who has a rainforest full of animal friends: Tookie, his big-beaked toucan messenger; Ape, a witty talking gorilla; and Shep, a peanut-loving pooch of an elephant. But when poachers mess with George's pals, the King of Swing swings into action.

George of the Jungle

1997

Shaft poster
6.0

New York police detective John Shaft arrests Walter Wade Jr. for a racially motivated slaying. But the only eyewitness disappears, and Wade jumps bail for Switzerland. Two years later Wade returns to face trial, confident his money and influence will get him acquitted -- especially since he's paid a drug kingpin to kill the witness.

Shaft

2000

What Men Want poster
6.2

Magically able to hear what men are thinking, a sports agent uses her newfound ability to turn the tables on her overbearing male colleagues.

What Men Want

2019

Brick poster
6.8

A teenage loner pushes his way into the underworld of a high school crime ring to investigate the disappearance of his ex-girlfriend.

Brick

2006

Earthquake poster
6.2

Various interconnected people struggle to survive when an earthquake of unimaginable magnitude hits Los Angeles, California.

Earthquake

1974

Antitrust poster
6.0

A computer programmer's dream job at a hot Portland-based firm turns nightmarish when he discovers his boss has a secret and ruthless means of dispatching anti-trust problems.

Antitrust

2001

Shaft poster
6.4

Cool Black private eye John Shaft is hired by a crime lord to find and retrieve his kidnapped daughter.

Shaft

1971

Thelma poster
6.8

When 93-year-old Thelma Post gets duped by a phone scammer pretending to be her grandson, she sets out on a treacherous quest across the city to reclaim what was taken from her.

Thelma

2024

Boat Trip poster
5.2

Two guys whose love lives are a wreck look forward to finding ladies on the high seas. Unfortunately, they've mistakenly been booked on a gay cruise.

Boat Trip

2002

Maniac Cop poster
6.1

A killer dressed in a police uniform begins murdering innocent people on the streets of New York City.

Maniac Cop

1988

City Heat poster
5.5

Set in Kansas City in 1933, Eastwood plays a police lieutenant known simply by his last name, Speer. Reynolds plays a former cop turned private eye named Mike Murphy. Both Speer and Murphy served on the force together and were once good friends, but are now bitter enemies. When Murphy's partner is slain they team up again to fight the mob.

City Heat

1984

Steel poster
4.2

When a renegade military reject puts new superweapons in dangerous hands, John Henry Irons becomes Steel. Wearing body armor, wielding a fearsome electrohammer and riding a gadget-packed motorcycle, he's ready to wage war... if he can fix the untimely glitches in his untested gear.

Steel

1997

Shaft in Africa poster
6.1

Detective John Shaft travels incognito to Ethiopia, then France, to bust a human trafficking ring.

Shaft in Africa

1973

Corky Romano poster
4.5

Corky Romano is a bumbling, simpleton, veterinarian and the youngest, outcast son of an aging gangster, named Pops Romano, who calls upon Corky to infiltrate the local FBI and retrieve and destroy evidence being used to incriminate Pops for racketeering charges.

Corky Romano

2001

Moving On poster
5.9

Two old friends reconnect at their friend's funeral, and decide to exact revenge on the widower who wronged all three of them decades earlier.

Moving On

2023

Theodore Rex poster
3.6

In an alternate futuristic society, a tough female police detective is paired with a talking dinosaur to find the killer of dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals leading them to a mad scientist bent on creating a new Armageddon.

Theodore Rex

1995

Escape to Athena poster
5.7

During the World War II, the prisoners of a German camp in a Greek island are trying to escape. They not only want their freedom, but also seek an ineffable treasure hidden in a monastery at the summit of the island's mountain.

Escape to Athena

1979

Breakdown: 1975 poster
6.8

In 1975, as America faced social and political upheaval, filmmakers turned chaos into art.

Breakdown: 1975

2025

Shaft's Big Score! poster
6.1

John Shaft is back as the lady-loved black detective cop on the search for the murderer of a client.

Shaft's Big Score!

1972

Q poster
5.7

A fleeing gangland flunky discovers the New York nest of Aztec deity Quetzalcoatl, the man-eating flying serpent.

Q

1982