Biography:

Rolf Hoppe was born in Ellrich, Germany, on December 6, 1930. Although his acting talent was apparent, he had to help out with the family business. In his free time, however, he acted in a drama group. In 1946, he was one of the founding members of a local amateur theater, where his talent as a comedian emerged. Hoppe took private acting classes and was finally accepted at the State Conservatory in Erfurt.

His debut as a professional actor in 1950 was at the theater in Erfurt. He then worked at theaters in Halle, Greifswald, Leipzig, Gera, Berlin, and Dresden (1961-1971, 1976-1984). In the 1980s, Hoppe shared the stage with Klaus Maria Brandauer in Jedermann at the Salzburger Festspiele.

Since the beginning of the 1960s, Hoppe also appeared in East German movie and television productions. Hoppe was mainly type-cast as evil, heavy-weight characters—like in East German Westerns—and he rarely received the opportunity to play more sympathetic roles. In 1965-66, the banning of three of his completed films—Fräulein Schmetterling, Der Frühling braucht Zeit, and Karla, was a blow to his film career.

Hoppe was known for filling both minor and major roles with life. The characters he played—such as King Don Carlos IV in Konrad Wolf’s film Goya, and the Justice of the Peace in Jede Woche Hochzeitstag—were always described as multi-faceted.

After acting in almost 100 East German movies and TV productions, Hoppe finally became internationally-known for his performance as the diabolical General Göring, in István Szabó’s Oscar award-winning movie, Mephisto, based on Klaus Mann’s novel. He worked with many other important directors as well, including Klaus Maria Brandauer (Mario und der Zauberer), Peter Schamoni (Frühlingssinfonie), Joseph Vilsmaier (Comedian Harmonists), Michael Haneke (Wer war Edgar Allan?), Frank Beyer (Der Bruch) and Dani Levy (Alles auf Zucker!).

In 1995, Rolf Hoppe fulfilled one of his dreams: he founded and became the principal of the Hoftheater Dresden in his hometown of Weißig. Hoppe passed away on November 14, 2018.

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