Acting

Jana Romanová

A Czech theater and film actress born on May 19, 1920, in Prague. She had always been drawn to the arts, ever since childhood. We do not know when or why she decided to pursue acting. Although it was not common at the time for parents to support their children’s acting careers, this was not an issue in Jana’s family. In fact, thanks to her father’s connections, she received private acting lessons from the legendary actor Rudolf Deyl Sr. She began acting with an amateur theater group called Umělecká beseda and later enrolled in the drama department at the Prague Conservatory. In 1939, she received her first engagement with Fráňa Francl’s theater troupe and subsequently joined the ensemble at the Vinohrady Theater, where she remained until her emigration. In total, she appeared in 14 films. Her first film was *Svatební cesta* (1938), in which she played a minor role alongside Adina Mandlová, František Krištof Veselý, and Eva Gerová. Her next role was that of Amálka in Vlasta Burian’s film *Ulice zpívá* (1939). This was followed by the films *The Minister’s Girlfriend* (1940), *The Lawyer of the Poor* (1941), *I’m Marrying Off My Wife* (1941), and the well-known film *Heaven and Bagpipes* (1941) with Jaroslav Marvan and Jindřich Plachta. Perhaps her best-known film is “Men Don’t Grow Old” (1942). In addition to Zita Kabátová, she starred alongside Jan Pivec, with whom she also filmed her next movie, “At the Five Squirrels” (1944). In 1943, Jan Pivec became her husband, though the marriage ended in divorce a few years later. After the liberation, she appeared in the films *Průlom* (1946), *Týden v tichém domě* (1947), *Nikola Šuhaj* (1947), *Nevíte o bytě* (1947), and *Až se vrátíš...* (1947). Her last film was *Alena* (1947). At the turn of 1948–1949, she married for the second time and immediately afterward emigrated to England, where she settled and likely started a family. In England, she met up a few times with her friends Adina Mandlová and Sylva Langová. She returned to Czechoslovakia one more time in the 1960s, where, among other things, she met Jan Pivec backstage at the National Theater. However, she never returned from England. She died on May 9, 2007.