[2][3] Rochefort was nineteen years old when he entered the Centre d'Art Dramatique de la rue Blanche.

[4] After completing his national service in 1953, he worked with the Compagnie Grenier Hussenot as a theatre actor for seven years.

In this film he played at 41 years old a father of adult children (the young Claude Jade was already 23).

In 1972, he starred opposite Pierre Richard as Chief of Counter-Espionage, Louis Toulouse, in the Yves Robert comedy Le Grand Blond avec une chaussure noire, a role he reprised in the 1974 sequel Le Retour du grand blond, also directed by Robert.

In the eighties, he became the narrator of the French version of Welcome to Pooh Corner, replacing Laurie Main.

This made him popular with children at the time and Disney hired him to record several audio versions of their classic movies.

In the 1990s, he returned to comedy with Les Grands Ducs where he played alongside two other actors of his generation with a similar career, Philippe Noiret and Jean-Pierre Marielle.