Richard Roundtree, who starred as private detective John Shaft in the iconic film “Shaft” and its sequels, has passed away.

He was 81.

Roundtree died of pancreatic cancer at his home in Los Angeles, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Born in New Rochelle, New York, Roundtree attended Southern Illinois University before pursuing acting in the early 1960s.

After spending several years as a stage actor, Roundtree found stardom on the big screen as a leading man in 1970s blaxploitation films, most famously playing John Shaft in the 1971 action film “Shaft,” directed by Gordon Parks. In the film, Shaft is is hired by a Harlem mobster to rescue his daughter from the Italian mobsters who kidnapped her.

It was a box office hit, making $12 million against a budget of $500,000. Roundtree was nominated for a Golden Globe for Most Promising Newcomer, while the film’s soundtrack earned widespread acclaim including an Academy Award nomination for Isaac Hayes’ title song. The film was also selected in 2000 for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”

It spawned several sequels including “Shaft’s Big Score,” “Shaft in Africa,” then the 2000 remake starring Samuel L. Jackson (with whom Roundtree co-starred).

That success would land Roundtree roles in films and television series like “Inchon,” “Roots” and “City Heat.” Already a cultural icon of the 1970s, Roundtree would appear in other notable films like “Seven,” “Original Gangstas,” “George of the Jungle,” “Steel,” “Speed Racer,” “What Men Want” and yet another “Shaft” reboot in 2019.

Television credits included “The Love Boat,” “CHiPs,” “Magnum, P.I.,” “Murder, She Wrote,” “MacGyver,” “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” “Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper,” “Touched by an Angel” and “Desperate Housewives.”