Shaft Star Richard Roundtree Dead at 81, Samuel L. Jackson & More Stars Pay Tribute

On Tuesday, TMZ reported that the actor -- best known for starring as detective John Shaft in 1971's Shaft and four sequels -- had died in his home in Los Angeles following a battle with pancreatic cancer.

Following the news of his passing, stars took to social media to honor Roundtree.

Samuel L. Jackson -- who starred alongside Roundtree as John Shaft's nephew in 2000's Shaft and the 2019 sequel -- posted a heartfelt tribute to Roundtree on Instagram, sharing a photo from 2019's Shaft.

"Richard Roundtree, The Prototype, The Best To Ever Do It!!" Jackson captioned his post. "SHAFT, as we know it is & will always be His Creation!! His passing leaves a deep hole not only in my heart, but I'm sure a lotta y'all's, too🤎👊🏾👊🏾👊🏾."

"Love you Brother, I see you walking down the Middle of Main Street in Heaven & Issac's Conducting your song🎶🎶👊🏾coat blowin' in wind!!," he added. "Angels whispering, 'That Cat SHAFT Is A Bad Mutha, Shutcho Mouth!! But I'm Talkin' Bout SHAFT!! THEN WE CAN DIGIT👊🏾👊🏾👊🏾👊🏾👊🏾‼️‼️‼️‼️💯💯💯💯🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎."

Gabrielle Union -- who worked with Roundtree in the series Being Mary Jane -- honored the actor on X, formerly Twitter, writing, "Working with Richard Roundtree was a dream. Getting to hang with him & our Being Mary Jane family was always a good ass time with the best stories & laughs."

"He was ALWAYS the coolest man in the room with the BEST vibes & ppl would literally run over to come see him," she added. "He was simply the best & we all loved him."

Roundtree's What Men Want costar, Taraji P. Henson, shared a photo of herself and Roundtree from the 2019 film on Instagram. She captioned the post, "Rest in paradise #RichardRoundtree the original #Shaft. 🕊️💜🙏🏾."

Meanwhile, Abbott Elementary star Sheryl Lee Ralph reacted to Roundtree's passing on X, writing, "When I was a teenager I use to dream about growing up to meet Richard Roundtree. I did and what a wonderful human being."

Comedian Loni Love also honored Roundtree on X. "Sad to hear of the passing of Richard Roundtree.. He was fabulous as John Shaft at a time when there were few leading Black men in film," she wrote. "He put the sexy and cool in being a detective. Rest well. Condolences to his family."

See more tributes in the social media posts, below.