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

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"His passing leaves a deep hole not only in my heart, but I'm sure a lotta y'all's, too," Jackson wrote in part, while Gabrielle Union, Taraji P. Henson, and more also honored the actor on social media.

Celebrities are paying tribute to Shaft star Richard Roundtree, who passed away on Tuesday at the age of 81.

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.

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