David Harris, known as 'Cochise' from 'The Warriors', passes away at 75 after cancer battle

Actor David Harris, who made the iconic role of Cochise in the 1979 cult film 'The Warriors', passed away on Friday morning. He was 75 and had been battling cancer, according to his daughter Davina Harris, who said her father died at their home in New York City.

Harris played the lead character Cochise, which was a prominent figure in the gang central to 'The Warriors'. The film directed by Walter Hill and based on Sol Yurick's 1965 novel embarks on an intense journey, that of a gang who is falsely charged with murder from the Bronx to Coney Island. The headband along with a big turquoise necklace had made Cochise look different among other gang members.

Although 'The Warriors' had terrible reviews when they first came out, the film still managed to gain a dedicated fan base. Harris has recalled in 2019 ADAMICradio interview how he and other cast members thought that after the release of the movie, people would talk of it only for a very short time. However, what happened is that the movie defined most of his career. "I was in Hong Kong, the Philippines, Tokyo," he related, explaining how people around the globe recognized him from 'The Warriors'.

Harris's film career extended far beyond 'The Warriors'. He appeared in numerous films throughout the 1980s and 2000s, including 'Brubaker' (1980), 'Quicksilver' (1986), 'A Soldier's Story' (1984), 'Fatal Beauty' (1987), and 'James White' (2015). On television, he could be seen on 'Law & Order: SVU', 'ER', 'NYPD Blue', and 'Mike Hammer: Private Eye'. He first appeared on the scene when he starred in the 1976 Emmy-nominated TV movie 'Judge Horton and the Scottsboro Boys', where he played Haywood Patterson. Harris also appeared in the play 'Secret Service', which featured some pretty big stars, including Meryl Streep and John Lithgow.

Born in New York City on June 18, 1949, Harris would discover his love for the performing arts when attending high school at the High School of Performing Arts, where the English teacher told him, "You should join the drama department." Looking back upon that time, Harris comments in a 2022 interview with 'The Claw's Corner', "I fell in love with it. I realized this was my calling.".

Surviving him are his daughter, Davina; his mother, Maude Marie Harris; a sister, Jeannette C. Harris-Zwerin; two brothers, Arthur A. Harris and Vincent J. Harris; and two grandchildren.