She was actually younger than actress Barbara Llewellyn, who played her stepdaughter Meg in the series, but producers and audiences felt that they were both convincing in their roles.
It went on to win three Australian Film Institute Awards and four Penguins, including best drama series and the 1974 George Wallace Memorial Logie for Best New Talent for Alexander as the sweet-tempered Esther.
Alexander had a recurring guest role in the high rating Australian medical drama All Saints as the viper-like Dr. Alison Newell, ex-wife of Dr. Frank Campion, played by John Howard.
Other television credits include: Home and Away (she played Christine Jones, the overprotective conservative mother of Melody Jones), Silent Number, Special Squad, Chopper Squad, Farscape, Murder Call, Seven Deadly Sins (Pride), Salem's Lot and Time Trax, a science fiction series in which she starred as a computer hologram alongside Dale Midkiff.
Her film work includes: the lead role in The Killing of Angel Street (which won an award at the Berlin Film Festival) opposite John Hargreaves, The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith, Summerfield with Nick Tate and John Waters, Sebastian and the Sparrow and The Journalist with Sam Neill.