Education
She studied the dramatic art at the Prague"s Academy of Performing Arts.
She studied the dramatic art at the Prague"s Academy of Performing Arts.
After the release of the Cech panen kutnohorských () in 1938, Zorka captured the imagination of the movie-going public. In 1939 she got her first big role in the František Čáp and Václav Krška"s movie Fiery Summer (Ohnivé léto), about a love triangle between Rose (Lída Baarová), Clare (Janů) and a young man, Šimon, who is loved by Clare, but loves Rose. Clare attempts suicide by jumping into the river.
Two young men in love with her throw themselves into the torrent to save her, but one of them drowns.
During the shooting of the Fiery Summer, Zorka Janů fell in love with the love of her life, the writer and poet František Kožík. In the 1940s Zorka Janů appeared in seven movies, among them Baron Münchhausen and Rubens’ Caper.
She played a leading role in the movie about an aging count who forbids his female staff to marry. Her last movie appearance was as Helen in Jiří Slavíček’s Boys and the River (1944).
Zorka Janů was expelled from work, ostracized, and committed suicide by jumping out of a window.
The tragic story of Zorka Janů was told by Adam Georgiev in his (1998) book Deník sestry Lídy Baarové (Diary of Lída Baarová’s Sister).