“The Warriors” actor David Harris has died aged 75

(NEXSTAR) – David Harris, the actor who played Cochise in the cult film “The Warriors,” died Friday at age 75, his daughter Davina Harris said.

Davina Harris told the New York Times that her father's cause of death was cancer.

Harris has over 50 screen credits on IMDb, including appearances in popular shows such as The White Shadow, In the Heat of the Night, MacGyver and NYPD Blue. But perhaps his best-known role was Cochise in “The Warriors,” the Walter Hill-directed film about a Brooklyn gang falsely accused of killing a gang leader in the Bronx.

The film gained a cult following in the years since its release, spawning parodies, video games, and even a 28-mile marathon that traced the characters' journey from the Bronx to Coney Island.

“What Walter did with the film was not a typical gang film. It was futuristic. … It was an interracial gang, which was really, really interesting,” Harris once said of the film's appeal during an interview on the web series ADAMICradio. “It wasn’t a gang that just carried a bunch of guns. In fact, the Warriors had no weapons. We didn't do it. We never fired a gun.”

In a film full of eccentrically dressed characters (including a gang member who wore roller skates and overalls and others who wore baseball uniforms with face paint), Harris' character of Cochise was one of the most recognizable, with a feathered headband and an abundance of turquoise hanging on his Necklace hangs.

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Harris added in his 2019 interview with ADAMICradio that he was still recognized as “that guy from 'The Warriors'” when he traveled abroad to promote other projects.

“It feels great to know that you are part of a film that makes history,” Harris said.

“There are certain films that are just iconic,” he later added. “And certain actors are lucky enough to be in a film that is just iconic and that people will be talking about for the next, you know, thousand years.”

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