Richard Roundtree (born July 9, 1942) is an American actor and former male fashion model famous for portraying John Shaft in the film Shaft (1971) and in its two sequels, Shaft's Big Score (1972) and Shaft in Africa (1973).
Roundtree was born in New Rochelle, New York to Kathryn, a nurse and housekeeper, and John Roundtree, a caterer and garbage collector. He attended Southern Illinois University.
Roundtree was a leading man in early 1970s Blaxploitation films. Prior to becoming an actor, he was a football player and a model. Although Roundtree worked through the 1990s, many of his more recent films were not well-received, but he was able to find success in stage plays. Since 1990, however, he apparently was reemerging as a cult icon. Roundtree appeared in David Fincher's critically acclaimed 1995 movie Se7en, the 2000 remake of Shaft as John Shaft's uncle, and guest-starred in several episodes of the first season of Desperate Housewives as an amoral private detective. He also starred in 1997's George of the Jungle, as well as playing a high school principal in the 2005 (General release: 2006) movie Brick.
Most recently, he has appeared in the television series Heroes as Simone's terminally ill father, Charles Deveaux.
Roundtree was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1993 and underwent a double mastectomy and chemotherapy.
