Rocket was born in Bangor, Maine, the son of Mary Aurelia (Fogler) and Sumner Abbott "Ham" Claverie. He attended the Rhode Island School of Design in the late 1960s and was part of the Rhode Island underground culture scene in the 1970s that also included Talking Heads frontman David Byrne and film Director Gus Van Sant.
Rocket married his college girlfriend, Beth Crellin, on board the battleship USS Massachusetts anchored in Fall River, Massachusetts, in 1972. Their son, Zane, was born in 1976. They were married at the time of Rocket's death.
On television, in addition to guest spots on several 1980s sitcoms, Rocket played network President Ned Grossberg on the cyberpunk series Max Headroom, Richard Addison (brother to Bruce Willis's David Addison) on the comedy-drama Moonlighting, and Adam on Touched by an Angel.
Due partially to the violation of broadcast standards, along with negative press regarding the new cast and declining ratings for both the series and the network in general, NBC replaced Doumanian with Dick Ebersol after one further episode. Ebersol, who placed the show on hiatus for a month to retool, dismissed Rocket, along with several of the Writers and fellow cast members Gilbert Gottfried and Ann Risley, before the next episode. A writers's strike led to the suspension of the rest of the season, and when the show returned in October 1981, Joe Piscopo and Eddie Murphy were the only cast members who were held over from Doumanian's era. Saturday Night: A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live revealed that Rocket was particularly hostile toward Murphy and Piscopo, as Doumanian had set him, Denny Dillon, and Gail Matthius to be the show's biggest stars, only to have all three receive mixed to negative reviews about their performances and to have Murphy and Piscopo upstage them all.
Rocket was found dead in a field on the property surrounding his Connecticut home on October 7, 2005, with his throat slit. Ten days later, the state medical examiner ruled the death a suicide. The police investigation determined that there was no Criminal aspect to the case. Rocket was 56 years old. His remains were cremated.
