Richard Roundtree

• Birthplace: New Rochelle, New York
• Birthday: July 9, 1942

This handsome black lead made his name as the smooth title character in the classic action film "Shaft" (1971), which while not exactly a blaxploitation movie itself, spawned a generation of them. Richard Roundtree subsequently starred in two sequels--"Shaft's Big Score" (1972) and "Shaft in Africa" (1973)--as well as a CBS TV series, "Shaft" (1973-1974) before settling in as a second lead and occasional star of various projects. There were years during the 1980s when the "Shaft" stigma seemed to put an early end to Roundtree's career, but he b…more