David Harris, the actor who played gang member Cochise in the cult classic The Warriorsdied at the age of 75.

Harris’ daughter confirmed his death to police New York Timesadding that he died Friday at his home in New York City after a battle with cancer.

In the Walter Hill-directed 1979 film, Harris played the headband and chain-wearing Cochise, an integral member of the red-vested gang the Warriors, who endure a one-night odyssey from the Bronx to their native Coney Island while dodging. increasingly colorful gangs turn to violence after the Warriors are wrongly accused of killing a gang warlord.

Panned by critics upon release, the film would eventually achieve cult status, exceed expectations at the box office, and spread further after its home video release.

“We thought it was a little movie that would kind of spin and disappear, 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 made a lot of films, but I get off the plane and people say, ‘It’s the guy from.’ The Warriors.”

Although The Warriors was Harris’ best-known role, the actor also appeared in TV shows such as Hill Street Blues, MacGyver, ER, Law & Order: Special Victims Unitand a 16-episode run as a police officer NYPD blue. His big screen credits span the 80s Brubaker1986 Mercuryand that of 2016 James White.

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

At the time, almost forty years after its theatrical release, the film still attracted legions of fans, both 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 its juice in over thirty years.”

One of those fans, Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda – who first saw the film when he was four years old via a friend’s older brother’s VHS – recently followed up his Broadway hit in an unexpected way, co-writing a concept album dedicated to The Warriors; that all-star LP – titled Warriorsand revolves around a girl gang – was released on October 18, with Kenita Miller playing the role of Cochise.