Coming Home is a fine showcase for two superb players who never achieved the recognition they deserved; although one of them, Jeanette Nolan, had a successful career, mostly on television. The other, Crahan Denton, had a career in the theater, was already middle aged when he began appearing on television and, later, in motion pictures; and he died way too young.
This is the only time I've ever seen Denton in anything in which he was top billed, and his performance, as a man just released from prison after serving a twenty year sentence for robbery and shooting a policeman, is almost self-effacing in its excellence. He doesn't miss a beat.
Denton disappears into the role of Harry Beggs, and his subtle playing raises the quality of the episode considerably. His character's awkwardness in a bar, having his first taste of alcohol in ages, and his inability to recognize that he's being set-up to be taken for the more than $1600 he has in his wallet, makes his fate quietly credible. One senses the actor playing not for sympathy but understanding.
Later in the episode, in his scenes with his wife, who never even once visited him when he was in prison, now bitter and impoverished, we see Denton and Jeanette Nolan playing off one another beautifully. It soon becomes apparent there's genuine affection between these two people upon whom fortune has never smiled.
Coming Home is more drama than melodrama; concerns not so much crime but the fate of a man who has committed one, has paid the price. Crahan Denton's somewhat severe demeanor, pensive and tragic, is perfect for Harry Beggs, who has done good and bad things in his life and is first and foremost a man, and this is what shines through in his performance.