Rolf Römer was born September 20, 1935, as Rolf Specht in Königswinter. He studied acting at HFF Potsdam-Babelsberg until 1960 and already starred in several smaller roles for DEFA during his time at HFF. After his graduation, he became a cast member of Stadttheater Senftenberg for three years.

In 1966, he played the leading role of Alfred in Jürgen Böttcher's film "Jahrgang 1945" ("Born in 1945"). The film about the collapse of a marriage was practically banned in the GDR and did not celebrate its premiere until the 1990 Berlinale film festival.

For a while, Römer was a permanent member of the DEFA ensemble and mainly became popular for his roles in DEFA western films. In the late 1960s, Römer also started to work as a director and writer and finished several erotic comedies, often starring his wive, the actress Annekathrin Bürger, in the leading role, for instance, in "He, du!" (1969) or "Hostess" (1976).

After Römer had protested against Wolf Biermann's expatriation and directed the "Polizeiruf 110" episode "Schuldig" that was considered as too critical of the GDR and therefore banned by the authorities, he from then on was only marginally employed and only occasionally appeared in Yugoslavian or Bulgarian film productions. On March 15, 2000, Rolf Römer died in Berlin.