Richard Roundtree Dead at 81: Gabrielle Union and More Honor Shaft Actor

Hollywood has lost a star.

Richard Roundtree died Oct. 24 following a battle with pancreatic cancer, his manager Patrick McMinn of McMinn Management and Artists & Representatives Agency confirmed to NBC News. The Shaft star was 81 years old.

"Artists & Representatives Agency mourns the loss of our friend and client Richard Roundtree," McMinn said in a statement to the outlet, noting Roundtree was surrounded by his family at the time of his passing.

After hearing the news, several celebrities expressed their condolences. 

 "The passing of Richard Roundtree is a real blow," Samuel L. Jackson, who acted alongside Roundtree in the 2000 movie Shaft (a follow-up to the 1971 original) wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. "Loved being around him, learning, working, laughing & feeling Blessed to have an idol live up to who I expected him to be!! Thanks for making us feel REAL GOOD about ourselves! Rest In Power."

Added Gabrielle Union, who appeared in Being Mary Jane with Roundtree, "Working with Richard Roundtree was a dream. Getting to hang with him & our Being Mary Jane family was always a good ass time with the best stories & laughs. He was ALWAYS the coolest man in the room with the BEST vibes & ppl would literally run over to come see him. He was simply the best & we all loved him. #RIPRichardRoundtree."

Holly Robinson Peete paid tribute as well.

"My heart hurts to hear this beautiful legendary actor/actor/pioneer has passed," the actress wrote on X. "Blessed to have known him and worked with him on 21 Jump Street AND Hangin With Mr. Cooper. I gave him his flowers every chance I got. Rest In Peace, Richard Roundtree #giant #icon #Shaft."

So did Sheryl Lee Ralph. 

"When I was a teenager I use to dream about growing up to meet Richard Roundtree," the Abbott Elementary star shared. "I did and what a wonderful human being."

Shaft, one of Roundtree's most memorable projects, marked a milestone in his career.

"That was a heady time," the actor recalled to The New York Times in 2019 about being catapulted into fame. "I remember driving a cab in this town for two years and dropping people off at places like the Jockey Club and Sardi's. I would think to myself, ‘One day, I'm going to …' And it happened. The night they introduced me to the media saying that I was going to be playing Shaft was at Sardi's. I'm dropped off in a limo and the paparazzi and the press is all there. The whole world turned around."

His performance as detective John Shaft landed him a Golden Globe nomination for New Star of the Year as well as well as an NAACP Image Awards nod in the Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture category. Shaft led to sequels as well as a TV show of the same name that ran from 1973 to 1974.

Throughout his career, Roundtree appeared in several other movies and TV shows, including City Heat, Generations, Se7en, George of the Jungle, Desperate Housewives, Brick, Heroes and Diary of a Single Mom. He also won an NAACP Image Award for his performance in 413 Hope St. and narrated the Peabody Award-winning docuseries The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow. In recent years, he appeared in the series Cherish the Day and Family Reunion.

Roundtree had battled cancer before. He was a breast cancer survivor—having being diagnosed in 1993—and later spoke out about his experience to raise awareness among men. 

"Not talking about my cancer was really tough," he told ABC News in 2009. "And now that I do talk about it all the time, it's really become a backhanded blessing. I was getting on a plane recently and a flight attendant ran up to me and said 'You saved my husband's life.'" 

(E! and NBC News are both part of the NBCUniversal family).