David Harris, Cochise in ‘The Warriors,’ dies at 75

David Harris, best known for portraying the gang member Cochise in the 1979 cult classic The Warriors, died Friday, Oct. 25 at age 75.

His daughter told The New York Times that the cause of death was cancer.

Born in New York City on June 18, 1949. Harris attended the High School of Performing Arts and later the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. His first major role was in the 1976 Emmy-nominated made-for-TV film Judge Horton and the Scottsboro Boys. The following year he appeared in the play Secret Service with Meryl Streep and John Lithgow,

In 1979, he appeared in The Warriors, based on Sol Yurick’s 1965 novel of the same name, about the titular gang falsely accused of murder who then has to fight its way through a gauntlet of other street gangs on their way home to Coney Island.

In one of the film’s iconic scenes, members of the Warriors. including Cochise, are lulled into a false sense of security by an all-female gang, who suddenly turn on them, with Cochise and his companions barely escaping with their lives.

The film became a cult classic, and the most famous role in Harris’ life, for which he was very grateful.

“It feels great to know that you’re a part of some film that’s history,” he said in a 2014 interview. “Certain actors are blessed enough to get in a film that is just iconic and people are going to talk about for the next thousand years.”

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Harris would continue to work steadily for the remainder of his career, appearing in the Oscar-nominated classic A Solider’s Story in 1984, but mostly had bit parts in television shows, including Hill Street Blues, In the Heat of the Night, MacGyver, E.R., NYPD Blue, and Law & Order. In 2005, he voiced the character of Cochise in The Warriors video game. His final role was in a 2019 episode of First Wives Club.

Harris is survived by his mother, his daughter, a sister, two brothers, and two grandchildren.