The inspiration of Richard Roundtree

Richard Roundtree in his iconic role as private investigator John Shaft.

Source: https://globalnews.ca

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Richard Roundtree will always be best remembered for playing John Shaft, a cool private eye, in the “Shaft” movies. It was even in all the announcements of his death yesterday.

It is also how I will remember him, not for what he did on screen, but the inspiration he gave me.

I have never seen a “Shaft” movie. To me, John Shaft is an idea that spawned others.

That all came to mind when I heard he died yesterday at the age of 81.

Crime and mystery
It was about at age 11 that I got interested in private detectives and spies. I began to accumulate books with characters I heard about from flea markets, used bookstores, and relatives.

Some of them included the James Bond, Matt Helm and Travis McGhee novels; Mickey Spillane’s “Mike Hammer”; Tony Rome; Sherlock Holmes; Lew Archer; Raymond Chandler’s “Phillip Marlowe”; Dashiell Hammett’s “Sam Spade”; and Ellery Queen.

I also found “Shaft” and “Shaft’s Big Score”. They were novelizations of the movies, but what I remember was Richard Roundtree on the cover looking like the prototypical private detective.

I had also heard he was a trailblazer, as the first Black private eye and action hero.

Although, I never read the books, seeing that cover every day on the bookshelf at the head of my water bed gave me an idea.

My own private eye (but not Idaho)
Ultimately, my goal was to write my own character, my own private investigator. The idea gestated for years, starting in about 1982. He would have a partner, someone who was not just a co-worker, but someone he had seen a lot of things with. Someone who was a brother, a foil, and someone who was his match in every way.

In my mind, that character was Richard Roundtree. Back in the 1980s, I always visualized the characters as both a novel and a movie or TV series. I always envisioned Richard Roundtree playing that character.

In 2010, I finally took the leap and wrote my first novel, as part of National Novel Writing Month. I finally brought Vietnam vet, bar owner and former government operative Stone Keys to life. There with him was Calvin Steele, the man he grew up with in an orphanage, served with in Vietnam, and with whom he owned a bar.

Even 28 years later, I still pictured Richard Roundtree when I thought of Calvin Steele.

He is a powerful image.

Beyond “Shaft”
Richard Roundtree had a lot of other roles on TV and film beyond his iconic portrayal of John Shaft.

His television work included a “Shaft” TV series in the 1973-1974 season; “Roots” in 1977; “The Love Boat” in 1980; “CHiPs” in 1981; “Magnum P.I.” and “Masquerade” in 1983; “A.D.” and “Hollywood Beat” in 1985; “Murder, She Wrote” in 1988; and “A Different World”, “Amen”, and “Beauty and the Beast” in 1989.

He would go on to appear in “21 Jump Street”; “MacGyver”; “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”; “The Young Riders”; “Beverly Hills 90210”; “L.A. Law”; “Hangin’ With Mr. Cooper”; two “Bonanza” movies; “Touched by an Angel”; “Profiler”; “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman”; “As The World Turns”; “Alias”; “Desperate Housewives”; “Grey’s Anatomy”; “Heroes”; the “Knight Rider” re-boot; “The Mentalist”; “Private Practice”; “Chicago Fire”; “Lethal Weapon”; and so much more.

Roundtree would also appear in dozens of movies right up until 2022, including two more “Shaft” movies, in 2000 and 2019.

Dressing up
Another odd memory comes from the show “ER”. When I was working in Vermilion at Lakeland College during the 1997-1998 school year, one of the things that I looked forward to every week was the latest episode of “ER”.

In one episode, Dr. Peter Benton, who was dating Dr. Elizabeth Corday at the time, was supposed to get dressed up for a party. He told Lizzy he was going as Shaft and she had no idea what he was talking about. He tried to explain, even singing some of the theme from "Shaft", but he had no luck. At the end of the episode, he picked Lizzy up, dressed as “Shaft”. He had the theme from "Shaft" playing.

That’s where I first heard the words, “He’s a complicated man, but no one understands…”

Parting thoughts
Richard Roundtree was a good, solid, durable, prolific actor who kept on working virtually up to his death. I was surprised at how many TV shows he was in, and just as surprised at how many I had seen.

Maybe that’s why he was such a vivid image for me.

And that’s what I will always remember Richard Roundtree for.

He gave me the inspiration for one of my favourite characters.