Richard Roundtree Merges With the Infinite

Actor Richard Roundtree has passed at 81.  Like many 90's-era college kids, I know Roundtree from Shaft, which is not just a great score, it's a phenomenal detective/ crime movie.  If you've not seen it, Roundtree is amazing in the film.

Roundtree had an amazing career, and for the past few decades kept very busy, with a terrific diversity of roles to his credit, sliding into whatever part he was offered.  I know he's one of those actors I say "oh, hell, that's Richard Roundtree" when he'd show up on screen, but you never knew where he'd pop up.  

He should be remembered for all that, but the impact of Shaft as a film and cultural phenomenon can't be underestimated, and while the soundtrack might have carried on, it was Roundtree as the tough-as-nails, smarter-than-the-rest leading man in the movie that gave it enduring appeal.