Actor David Harris, Cochise From ‘The Warriors,’ Dies at 75

Actor David Harris, who famously portrayed Cochise in the cult classic film The Warriors, has passed away. He was 75.

According to the New York Times, Harris died in his home in New York City after a battle with cancer, per his daughter Davina Harris.

Harris appeared in films like A Soldier’s Story and Fatal Beauty, and television shows including NYPD Blue, In The Heat of the Night and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. But it was no doubt The Warriors, released in 1979, that still got him recognized wherever he went.

In The Warriors, the eponymously named gang has to make it all the way back to Coney Island after a big gang meeting in The Bronx goes left when Cyrus—who hoped to unite all the gangs—gets shot and killed after his epic “Can you dig it?!” speech. Keep in mind , there are no cell phones or Ubers, just NYC’s rapid transit and every other gang in the city out to stop them. It was Cochise who proved to be one of the more thorough members of the crew, showing deference to war chief Swan, finding time to party with girls on the way home and willingly throwing hands when it became necessary.

“I was the last Warrior cast,” Harris told The Five Count podcast during an interview. “Walter Hill saw like, I don’t, 300 or 400 actors for Cochise in The Warriors in New York, but he could find Cochise. I was in Minneapolis doing a play and I got back to New York and Walter was still trying to find Cochise. My agent said, Hey man there’s this movie in the city and there’s a part that they’re having a problem casting… I walk into the room, I had two scenes to read for Walter but he took one look at me [and] said, Go down to wardrobe. He found his Cochise.”

Rest in powerful peace David Harris.