From the time she was 14, her father, a shoemaker by profession and a victim of schizophrenia, was unable to work and Alves became the family's financial provider.

In 1942, she performed in a revue for the first time at the Teatro Maria Vitória, alongside Amália Rodrigues, the actress and fado singer.

A large number of her performances were at the Teatro Monumental, which opened in November 1951 and was leased by the actor and impresario Vasco Morgado, who Alves had married in 1948.

[1][2][3] With the growth in the popularity of television, the size of the Teatro Monumental meant that it gradually ceased to be viable as a theatre.

Her popularity had also been affected by her criticisms of the Carnation Revolution in 1974, which had seen the overthrow of the Estado Novo, the authoritarian government that had controlled Portugal for half a century.

[1] Alves is now known to the Portuguese public primarily for the films she made, which are still shown on Portugal’s TV stations.

In particular, three films made in the 1940s remain popular; her first, The Tyrant Father (O Pai Tirano); O Leão da Estrela; and O Pátio das Cantigas.

In 1966, the Government awarded her the rank of Dame of the Military Order of Saint James of the Sword (Portuguese: Ordem Militar de Sant'Iago da Espada).