David Harris, actor who played Cochise in “The Warriors,” has died at age 75

David Harris, the Actor who portrayed gang member Cochise in the cult film The warriorsHe died at the age of 75.

Harris' daughter confirmed this New York Timesand added that he died Friday of complications from cancer at his home in New York City.

In the 1979 Walter Hill-directed film, Harris played the headband-and-necklace-wearing Cochise, an integral member of the red-clad Warriors gang who endure a one-night odyssey from the Bronx to their native Coney Island while dodging Always gangs bent on violence become more diverse after the Warriors are falsely accused of killing a gang warlord.

The film, panned by critics upon its release, eventually achieved cult status, exceeded expectations at the box office, and continued to expand following its release on home video.

“We thought it was a little film that would run its course and no one would ever talk about it again,” Harris said in a 2019 interview (via NYT). “I was in Hong Kong, I was in the Philippines, I was in Tokyo. I've done a lot of movies, but I get off the plane and people say, “That's the guy from.” The warriors.”

While The Warriors was Harris' most famous role, the actor also appeared on television shows like Hill Street Blues, MacGyver, HE, Law & Order: Special Victims Unitand a 16-part series as a police officer NYPD Blue. His film appearances include the 1980s Brubaker1986s mercuryand 2016 James White.

In 2016 Rolling Stone sat down with a handful of the actors who portrayed the Warriors – including Harris – to revisit the 1979 film and its legacy for the short The Warriors: Last subway ride home.

Back then, nearly 40 years after its theatrical release, the film still attracted legions of fans old and new. “It means a lot to us because our fans are family,” Harris said Rolling Stone at the time. “It hasn’t lost any of its power in over thirty years.”

One of those fans Hamilton Creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, who first saw the film as a four-year-old on a friend's older brother's VHS, recently followed up his Broadway hit in an unexpected way, co-writing a concept album dedicated to it The warriors; this all-star LP – titled warriorand revolves around an all-girl gang – was released on October 18, starring Kenita Miller in the role of Cochise.