Richard Roundtree found success as John Shaft—the smooth, menacing, smart-mouth private detective—in the film series Shaft. However, before his rise to stardom in 1971, there was a different career in which he excelled.

Here’s a hint: If a ball is caught in the endzone, that’s usually a… TOUCHDOWN. So, if you guessed football, you’re right. Roundtree grew up in New Rochelle, New York, and according to the star, it was like a noiseless bubble.

“[I] grew up in a well-insulated kind of middle-class glass bubble,” Roundtree told The New Courier in 1971. “My father was a chauffeur who practically worked ’round the clock. My mother—like many Black mothers—was a domestic. Somehow, they managed to save up enough money to buy two houses, and we lived in one of them in New Rochelle.”

Like many teens, Roundtree got bit by the sports bug and joined his high school’s football team. He wasn’t just good; he became the “big man on campus” as an offensive end.

“When I graduated, our team was rated third in the nation,” he added. Roundtree’s hard work resulted in a football scholarship offer from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. While adjusting to college life, he witnessed first-hand how segregated the world was, and a racial incident at a store (and his newfound love for theater and acting) would make him drop out.

Switching gears, the actor also built a modeling portfolio as an Ebony Fashion Fair model. His modeling gigs and minor film parts would keep him afloat until his starring role in Shaft.

Throughout his decades-long career, the actor appeared on episodes of A Different World, Amen, MacGyver, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Beverly Hills, 90210, and many more shows, with Netflix’s Family Reunion being the most recent. The actor also had roles in over 60 movies.

Roundtree passed away on October 24, 2023, in Los Angeles, California. He was 81.

Credit: Shaft (’71), Distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer