Career
She is most famous for being the fourth wife of American actor Henry Fonda. The Italian Jewish Franchetti family, from the 18th century, was one of the wealthiest families in the Mediterranean. Afdera Franchetti was the daughter of Baron Raimondo Franchetti, a famous explorer who traveled extensively in Ethiopia and charted hitherto unexplored territories (Dancalia) during the 1920s.
Raimondo"s grandmother was Sara Louise de Rothschild (1834-1924).
Baron Franchetti died in a plane crash in 1935, when Afdera was three years old. She was once arrested for drug smuggling, as detailed in her autobiography, for one "joint", which she brought in her luggage for a friend without knowing that possession of this small amount of marijuana was a serious offence.