Richard Roundtree, well-known for taking part in the lead in 1971 thriller Shaft, has died from pancreatic most cancers aged 81.

His supervisor confirmed his dying to US websites Variety, Hollywood Reporter and Deadline.

Roundtree’s flip as streetwise non-public detective John Shaft made him a star – with the well-known musical intro by Isaac Hayes additionally profitable an Oscar.

Shaft is one of the best identified of the Seventies Blaxploitation style – films by black crews and actors geared toward black audiences – which later influenced administrators resembling Quentin Tarantino.

The film sees a Harlem mobster rent Roundtree’s character to rescue his kidnapped daughter and it turned a breakthrough hit regardless of a modest price range.

Shaft’s Big Score adopted in 1972 and Shaft in Africa in 1973, whereas there was additionally a short TV collection.

“Richard’s work and career served as a turning point for African American leading men in film,” his supervisor Patrick McMinn informed Variety.

“The impact he had on the industry cannot be overstated.”

Roundtree labored as a mannequin in his early 20s earlier than becoming a member of a black theatre firm and touchdown the Shaft position aged 28.

He additionally appeared in Roots in 1977 – a landmark miniseries primarily based on the US slavery period – and cleaning soap opera Generations from 1989 to 1991.

Roundtree reprised his position as Shaft in a 2000 film of the identical identify starring Samuel L Jackson as his nephew, in addition to a 2019 Netflix movie that continued the franchise.

Jackson paid tribute on Instagram, calling Roundtree “The Prototype” and saying his dying “leaves a deep hole”.

Roundtree’s different credit embody showing with Laurence Olivier in 1981’s Inchon, and alongside Clint Eastwood and Burt Reynolds in 1984’s City Heat.

Roundtree married twice and is survived by 4 daughters and a son.