Rolf Hoppe
German actor (1930–2018)
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Key Takeaways
- Rolf Hoppe (6 December 1930 – 14 November 2018) was a prolific German stage, cinema, and television actor, who played in more than 400 films in a career which spanned over six decades.
- Early life Hoppe was born the son of a master baker in Ellrich, Thuringia, Germany.
- Career Hoppe moved to Erfurt where he began formal training as an actor at the Staatliches Konservatorium from 1949 to 1951, during which time he supported himself by working as an animal handler at the Zirkus Aeros.
- His stage performances included such notable venues as the Staatsschauspiel Dresden, the Deutsches Theater in Berlin, and the Salzburg Festival.
- In the East German DEFA movies, Hoppe frequently played villains in different Osterns ("Red Westerns") of the 1960s and 1970s.
Rolf Hoppe (6 December 1930 – 14 November 2018) was a prolific German stage, cinema, and television actor, who played in more than 400 films in a career which spanned over six decades.
To international audiences Hoppe is perhaps best known for his roles as the General in the Oscar-winning Mephisto (1981) and as the King in the East-German–Czechoslovakian Holiday classic Three Wishes for Cinderella (1973).
Early life
Hoppe was born the son of a master baker in Ellrich, Thuringia, Germany. After his apprenticeship as a baker, he worked from 1945 to 1948 as a coach driver.
Career
Hoppe moved to Erfurt where he began formal training as an actor at the Staatliches Konservatorium from 1949 to 1951, during which time he supported himself by working as an animal handler at the Zirkus Aeros. He later performed at Thalia Theater in Halle (Saale) and at the Theater der jungen Welt (children's and youth theatre) in Leipzig. His stage performances included such notable venues as the Staatsschauspiel Dresden, the Deutsches Theater in Berlin, and the Salzburg Festival. Internationally, he worked in Switzerland, Italy, Poland and China.
In the East German DEFA movies, Hoppe frequently played villains in different Osterns ("Red Westerns") of the 1960s and 1970s. In the 1973 fairytale film Three Wishes for Cinderella, a Czechoslovak–East German co-production, he appeared as the King. One of Hoppe's most notable roles is that of "the General" (based on Hermann Göring) in István Szabó's drama Mephisto, which was awarded the 1981 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. In Peter Schamoni's historical drama Spring Symphony, he played Friedrich Wieck, the strict piano teacher of Robert Schumann and father of Clara Wieck.
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