CULTURETECHLENSJohn Shaft
VERIFIED evidence grade — master store (canonical CSV)
Combined Graph record U-02039 · provenance: canonical master store (CSV), record CTL-W-0931. Master record source: CTL seed 2026-10-16 — UNVERIFIED, verify before public citation.
Private detective; the first Black action hero of 1970s cinema
Answer summary · this record in brief, from its own record text
Private detective; the first Black action hero of 1970s cinema
The record
- Also known as: portrayed by Richard Roundtree
- Work type: character
Relationships
- Shaft — featured in
STRONG EVIDENCE
Sources
- https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/54157 (verification source · master store)
Evidence note (master store)
John Shaft is the private-detective title character of the film Shaft (1971). John Shaft is performed by Richard Roundtree (AFI Catalog: Roundtree's first major film role; he starred in all three Shaft pictures). The character was created by Ernest Tidyman in his 1970 novel Shaft (AFI Catalog: the film is based on the novel, and Tidyman received an NAACP Image Award for his creation of Shaft).
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Record CTL-W-0931 · Combined Graph record U-02039 · CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph · 1 source · 1 mapped relationship.
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Researched and maintained by the CultureTechLens research program · CultureTechLens Combined Graph, Release 2026-11-04. Corrections are public: the corrections log.
Cite this record
Chicago: CultureTechLens. “John Shaft (CTL-W-0931).” CultureTechLens Combined Graph. Chicago, IL: CultureTechLens, 2026. https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-w-0931/
APA: CultureTechLens. (2026). John Shaft (CTL-W-0931) [Entity record]. CultureTechLens Combined Graph. https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-w-0931/
MLA: CultureTechLens. “John Shaft (CTL-W-0931).” CultureTechLens Combined Graph, 2026, https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-w-0931/
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