Rolf Hoppe, born December 6, 1930, in Ellrich (Harz), started acting during his school time in FDJ amateur drama groups. He then attended the state academy of arts in Erfurt and became a cast member of Städtische Bühnen Erfurt. After fighting vocal chord paralysis, Hoppe performed at theatres in Halle, Greifswald, Leipzig, and Gera, and became a cast member at Staatstheater Dresden in 1961.

With his huge shape and nearly bald head, Hoppe mainly played particulary villanous or funny characters in films and on TV. He won the GDR arts award for his portrayal of the dumb, but good-natured "King of Spain and both Indias" in "Goya" (1971) and played villains in two western movies by Gottfried Kolditz, "Die Spur des Falken" ("Trail of the Falcon", 1968) und "Ulzana" (1974), among others. Soon, Hoppe became the stock actor for negative characters and played the SS-Hauptsturmführer Grabow in "Lebende Ware", and was seen as a spy in Roland Gräf's "Die Flucht" ("The Flight", 1977), and in Peter Hagen's TV spy crime film "Irrläufer" (1985). But he also proved his comical talents in "Die Hosen des Ritters von Bredow" (1973) and, as Jupiter, in the adaptation of Offenbach's "Orpheus in der Unterwelt" ("Orpheus in the Underworld", 1973).

Hoppe rose to international fame with his portrayal of the General in István Szabó's Academy Award-winning "Mephisto" (1981), based on Klaus Mann's Gründgens novel. He then starred in several international, mainly West German productions, for instance as Clara Schumann's ambitious father Friedrich Wieck in Peter Schamoni's "Frühlingssinfonie" ("Spring Symphony", 1983) and as warden in Bernhard Wicki's "Die Grünstein-Variante" (1984).

Back in the GDR, Hoppe made a brilliant performance as the baroque Prince-elector Friedrich August of Saxony in the TV series "Sachsens Glanz und Preußens Gloria" (1987), and as old wharf director Hüsgen in Roland Gräf's "Haus am Fluß" (1986). After the German reunification, Hoppe played a Nazi victim in "Bronsteins Kinder" ("Bronstein's Children", 1991), and the power-loving prefect Angolieri in Klaus Maria Brandauer's "Mario und der Zauberer" ("Mario and the Magician", 1994). Furthermore, Hoppe played the owner of a stud farm in the TV series "Alles Glück dieser Erde" (1994).

During the 1990s, Hoppe appeared regularly in films and played Gauleiter Julius Streicher in Joseph Vilsmaier's "Comedian Harmonists" (1997). Hoppe also starred in several children's movies, for instance as a fallen-out train driver in "Die Lok" (1993) or as King in "Lorenz im Land der Lügner" ("Laurence in the Land of Liars", 1997). In addition, Hoppe starred in numerous TV series and films, for instance in several films by Fran Beyer, including "Das Ende der Unschuld" (1991) or "Der Hauptmann von Köpenick" (1997). In 1998, Hoppe won the Grimme award for his portrayal of mafia don Heinz Baranowski in the crime series "Sardsch".

In recent years, Hoppe only appeared occasionally on the big screen but was seen as Rabbi Ginsberg in Dani Levy's comedy "Alles auf Zucker" ("Go for Zucker!", 2005). During the following years, he played a senior police detective in three episodes of the TV series "Commissario Laurenti" (TV, 2007-2009) and had supporting roles in several made-for-TV films, including an acclaimed adaptation of Friedrich Dürrenmatt's "Der Besuch der alten Dame" (2008), the drama "Eine Liebe in St. Petersburg" (2009), as well as the comedies "So ein Schlamassel" (2009) and "Linda geht tanzen" (2011).

Hoppe, who was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit First Class in 2010, returned to the big screen with turns in "Ich, Tomel" (2009) and "Wir wollten aufs Meer" (2012). While the Ken Follett TV adaptation "Die Pfeiler der Macht" ("A Dangerous Fortune") saw him as a strict patriarch and he also featured in two episodes of TV crime series "Spreewaldkrimi" his last appearance on the big screen next to Lars Eidinger and Jan Josef Liefers in "Die Blumen von gestern" ("Bloom of Yesterday", 2016).

In 2015, Hoppe was awarded the Deutscher Schauspielerpreis for his lifetime achievements; he received a similar honor at the 2017 fairy tale film festival fabulix in 2017. He was also bearer of the St. Georg Medal of Semperoperball.

On November 14, 2018, Rolf Hoppe died in Dresden.