Rolf Hoppe

Rolf Hoppe is a German film and stage actor.

Hoppe was born as son of a master baker in Ellrich, Thuringia, Germany. After his apprenticehip as a baker, he worked from 1945 to 1948, as a coachman. He then started an actors’ training in Erfurt and worked in the circus Aeros. He later engaged at Thalia Theater in Halle (Saale) and at the Young World Theatre in Leipzig. He acted at the Staatsschauspiel Dresden, the Deutsches Theater in Berlin, and the Salzburg Festival. He was internationally active in Switzerland, Italy, Poland and China.

In the East German DEFA movies, Hoppe often played villains, e.g., in different Osterns. One of his most notable roles was that of the Tábornagy (Hermann Göring) in Mephisto, which was awarded the 1981 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

Hoppe lives in Weißig in Dresden. He is married and has two daughters. His youngest daughter, Christine Hoppe (1968), is also an actress.