In the mid-1960s Chaplin signed a book contract with British publisher Leslie Frewin to publish his autobiography I Couldn't Smoke The Grass On My Father's Lawn, which was ghostwritten with Tom Merrin and Charles Hamblett.

Before its release his father filed an injunction to prevent publication, arguing that it would have a detrimental effect on himself and his family.

[1][3] The injunction was set aside by judges for the Court of Appeal, who held that Chaplin's contract was binding because he stood to gain from the work's publication, as it launched his writing career.

[4] In addition, Chaplin is the author of a novel, A Fallen God, a modern version of the story of Tristan and Iseult.

He is the second child and eldest son from Charlie Chaplin's fourth and final marriage, to Oona O'Neill.